Slave
by sunaprincess7
Summary: Suna has lost the war. Badly. Temari is captured and taken to Konoha as a slave. There she ends up working for a rich family, the Nara's. Shikatema AU
1. Chapter 1

Temari awoke to the sound of loud banging. Then yelling.

"Shit," she cursed scrambling up from the floor. As she kicked the sheets off her body she heard the yelling again. It was Kankuro.

The Konohanians had been raiding her home town of Suna for about two months now. Half of the population of the town had already disappeared. Not that there were many there to begin with; they used to call it a country- now, it was more like a shanty town. Luckily, Temari and her brothers had managed to fight off the bastards ever since the raids began. But it was getting harder to do so. Every time they came they brought more men and she saw that they were getting younger and younger.

It had been just over a week since the last attack on her home. They had taken her youngest brother. Kankuro had been hit over the head, hard. Whilst she was attempting to pull him off the soldier, they had taken Gaara. Her brothers had always told her to stay back whenever they were fighting. If she got captured- well, there was only one thing that happened to young girls.

The worst that would happen to the boys if they were captured would be likely to involve some form of weapon construction or maybe even being enlisted to fight. But she had heard stories of what had happened to her friends. Most of them were either sent to brothels or to houses to become slaves to the rich families back in Konoha.

She ran through to the one other room that made up their dirt house. There were three soldiers in the room and Kankuro was attempting to fend them off by swinging a leg of a chair at them. Temari ran straight towards the group of soldiers and kicked the nearest one right in the stomach.

"Bitch!" she heard the soldier exclaim as he fell. She turned her attention to the two cornering Kankuro. She pushed her way past her eldest brother and jumped on the back of the taller soldier attempting to tackle him to the ground. Whilst she was grappling with the soldier, she was grabbed by the hair and dragged out of the house.

Temari kicked in front, behind, every way her legs could reach. She was flailing her arms helplessly.

"Let go of me you fucking bastard!!" she screamed.

"Temari!"

She turned her attention back to the door of the house to see Kankuro struggling against the two militia holding him.

She couldn't help it. She never cried. Not even when Gaara was taken. She merely got mad. Furious even. And started saving for a shotgun if those Konoha fucks ever came again. But she was crying now. Angry tears made their way down her face as she continued to kick and scream in anguish.

* * *

Shikamaru glared at his tutor who merely looked back at him expectantly.

After a yawn, just to illustrate how pathetic he thought this particular lesson was, he decided to reply.

"So you're honestly telling me that the reason Konoha soldiers go running into that shanty town every week is in defence of the realm? This war has been going on for over six years now. The Sunan army officially surrendered two years ago. The place has been turned into a wreck in the middle of the desert and you're trying to get me to believe that there's still a war going on? As soon as the Hokage personally knifed the leader of their army the war was over. That was at least three years ago."

Asuma smirked at him.

"You say this every time we have this lesson, but six years ago Suna bombed our weapons factory. They started this war. We're merely finishing it."

"Again, I understand that you're trying to play the devil's advocate, but really you're just making yourself sound stupid. All of Konoha's population knows that this war is pointless. The army is continuing it purely to decorate their own homes with gold looted from Suna, and to rape the women that are still left there," Shikamaru finished wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I suppose we can end it there," Asuma replied. This debate had taken a nasty turn and he found that he didn't really want to continue it. "I can tell your mother that I'm satisfied that you'll make a fantastic lawyer or politician someday and you can have at least an hour's peace because of it," Asuma said, obviously trying to cheer his pupil up.

"I know Sunan war history isn't your favourite topic," he said pausing as Shikamaru shot him a look, "but your father's a leading figure in the military. It wouldn't look well for you to be totally dense on the subject. Or so your mother tells me."

"And she signs your cheques so she's automatically..."

"The boss," Asuma finished for him, "yes. Well, no homework for the weekend."

"You say that every weekend," Shikamaru complained, "tell me no more homework ever and....."

"Not a possibility," Asuma said wryly, "your mother still reads your essays. Well, I'll be off. It's almost five," he finished in a murmur.

"Hot date with that woman from the arms factory?" Shikamaru asked smirking.

Asuma chose not to reply and merely slinked out of his student's study blushing.

* * *

The blonde sat up and rubbed her head. Her eyes were still blurry and her head hurt like hell.

They've drugged me, Temari thought as she tried to gain her bearings. Attempting to place her weight on her shaky legs resulted in her falling over and banging her head again.

As her eyes swam with dizziness she heard someone talk.

"You're awake," the voice said. It was female- that was odd. Oh fuck, that meant she was in a brothel.

"The first person to put their hands on me loses a finger," she said attempting to sound threatening.

"Oh calm down, no one wants to screw you here. You flatter yourself," the voice said.

Temari's vision cleared and she saw that she was sitting in a cell. She looked at the woman talking to her. The brunette with two buns as a hairdo was dressed in a Konoha army uniform, swinging a knife on her right hand and smiling. Temari couldn't work out if it was a vicious smile or not.

"A female in the army, that's original," she spat out. "Tell me, how many male officers do you fuck per night?"

The female smile grew wider.

"You're feisty. They'll love you in Konoha. Most of the Sunan whores spirits have been broken already. I'm sure the male population will love someone with a little fight left in them."

Temari was about to launch herself at the cell bars when she heard the door to the room opening.

"Ten Ten," a voice said as a male entered the room. "Are you coming?"

Temari studied the man. He was also dressed in an army uniform but had longer hair than she had ever seen on any male.

"Or maybe you fuck just one?" Temari shot out, studying the look on the brunette's face.

Ten Ten glared at her but failed to hide the small blush rising on her cheeks.

"We'll see how smart you are tomorrow blondie," she said walking towards the man. She gave Temari one last look as she exited the room.

"Shit," Temari whispered as the tears grew in her eyes.

What the fuck was she going to do?


	2. Chapter 2

Shikamaru rubbed his head and sat up. He saw the maid come into his room- he assumed she was the one who knocked and thanked whatever God there was that it wasn't his mother.

"It's time to get up now, Master Shikamaru," the maid said as politely as possible, Shikamaru noted. He wished the house staff wouldn't talk to him like he was a prince. Sure his parents had money, but that didn't make him any better than the rest of the world.

"Do I have to?" he mumbled, yawning.

The maid chuckled slightly at his reply.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but you can't sleep in any later today," the maid continued, "Miss Ino is visiting today and your mother is quite insistent that you're there to greet her."

"Ugh," Shikamaru exhaled loudly. He lay back on his bed frustrated.

The maid tutted.

"Don't do that," Shikamaru said irritably. "You don't know how annoying she is," he continued, already chastising himself for telling the woman what to do. Well, she was more of a girl he thought. In fact, she didn't look any older than he did.

"If I may make a small observation, sir?" the maid said quietly

Shikamaru nodded as a form of reply still wondering how old the girl was.

"You didn't seem to mind Miss Ino's visits as much before; until you found out that you were betrothed to her."

"Yea, well promising to never leave Ino's side till I die isn't exactly top of my list of untroublesome things," Shikamaru deadpanned. "And secondly, I'm not betrothed to anyone. Betrothal is a concept of royalty. I'm not a royal."

"But you will marry her, it has been planned since you were children," the maid suggested.

"Yes, I will marry her. And produce tonnes of small blonde children that my mother can annoy on a daily basis instead of me," Shikamaru said rolling his eyes.

It was his seventeenth birthday two months ago. That meant his marriage to Ino was only ten months away.

"Miss?" he said looking at the maid. She was a peculiar little thing, he thought. Small frame with a blueish tint to her hair. "Could you tell me your name please?"

"Of course, Master Shikamaru," the maid said blushing slightly. "My name is Hinata."

"Very well," Shikamaru said getting up and positioning himself in front of the girl. She moved back a little, obviously startled at his sudden proximity. He kneeled down on one knee, "Will you marry me?"

"Master Shikamaru!" Hinata squeaked, "Please, I beg of you, stand up. If your mother was to see this, I do not want to think what would happen!"

Shikamaru sighed, and got up and sat back down on his bed.

"I'm sorry," he said to the frightened girl, "but you seem less troublesome than Ino."

The girl breathed a sigh of relief and moved over to him slightly.

"I'm sorry to reject your proposal, but you see, I am also betrothed," Hinata said with a wistful look on her face.

As Shikamaru was about to launch into his rant about him not being betrothed, he processed what she said in his head. He studied Hinata again. She was....different, he surmised. Unlike anyone he had ever seen from around here.

It clicked.

"You're from Suna?" he asked, suddenly feeling dreadfully ashamed of his family and wanting to give her a pile of money and to tell her to run back to her country. If she was Sunan, it meant his mother wasn't paying her for her work.

Hinata nodded shyly.

"Royalty?" he continued.

"Not quite," she said quietly. "Somewhat like you in position, I suppose. By the time I was taken from Suna, the royal family had already been removed. I often wonder what happened to our princess," she said trailing off in a thoughtful way.

"And you were to be married? Please tell me you hated the man. It would make me feel slightly better," he said, still trying to get rid of the guilty feeling building in his stomach.

Hinata remained quiet.

"I'm sorry, Master Shikamaru," she whispered. He could see the tears building in her eyes. "Excuse me," she said and inched her way out of the room trying to hide her face.

Shikamaru sat down on the floor, for no other reason than just to sit on the floor. Ino was his biggest problem. And here was this girl, probably only seventeen herself, living the life of a slave. Somehow, having to marry Ino suddenly seemed like a pathetic problem.

* * *

Shikaku surveyed the Sunan's in front of him.

The guard sidled up to him.

"You looking for anything in particular, Sir?" he asked.

Shikaku waved him away with his hands and walked along the line of people, looking them up and down.

His eyes stopped on a pair of feet. They were small feet. He sighed. A woman.

He dragged his eyes up to her face. No, he thought, a girl. Well, by his standards at least. She was older than his son.

He took a couple of steps back and surveyed the girl. She had blonde hair in four tufts. Her face was covered in dirt as was her body. She obviously had been living in a dirt house back in Suna.

He sighed again. Looking at her was causing him a great deal of emotional trouble. This girl was....exceptionally beautiful. Even through all the dirt he could still see her teal coloured eyes. They shone through. It was like he was looking at her soul. He saw her past...wondered how many family members she had lost in the war. Where her parents were. He was surprised his lesser officers hadn't plucked her eyes out of her sockets in mistake for some precious Sunan jewel.

Yoshino would kill him if he brought home another girl. But he knew. There was only one place this girl was ending up otherwise. If she was virgin, she would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. If not, it was one of Konoha's finest brothels. He shuddered to think what would happen if Jiraiya laid eyes on this girl.

He tried to tear his eyes away from hers. She was glaring at him. He chuckled. They all thought he was a pervert at the start.

But he only succeeded in regarding the girl's figure. That was all he needed to convince him. There was no way she was slipping under Jiraiya's radar with a figure like that.

"AHEM," he heard the girl cough loudly. He looked up and saw her too be attempting to cover herself with her roped hands and glaring at him intensely.

She was only rewarded by a loud smack on the head from the guard.

"I'll take her," Shikaku said, trying to give the girl a reassuring look. She probably thought...well, God knows what she thought.

He handed over money to the guard, who counted it in his hand.

"I'm sorry, Sir, it's a bit more for this one," he said awkwardly.

Shikaku nodded in comprehension. So she was a virgin. He looked at the girls inner thighs. They were red raw. When he was in charge of the Sunese "immigrants" as the army turned them, he instructed the doctors to be gentle when examining the women. Apparently, the new general wasn't that way inclined.

He passed over more money and walked over to the girl. The guard was busy unchaining her from the line of slaves. Shikaku took out his pen knife and cut through the rope that bound her hands.

In two seconds the girl punched him in the face, kneed the guard in the head and ran for it.

He almost hoped she would make it. But two soldiers ran after her. There was no way she was making it he thought, they probably hadn't fed her properly for days. As she was dragged back by the arms the guard grabbed the rope and bound her hands together again.

The girl was breathless from the exertion. She had tears building in her eyes.

He took the end of the rope and attempted to lead her away. She spat at him. Again, she was rewarded by a smack on the head from the guard. The girl winced.

As he moved her away he noted that this was the tenth girl he had brought home in two months. Yoshino would start to get suspicious if he brought home anymore young girls. She could put her in the kitchen, he mused. She was too pretty to be a maid in the main house. Yoshino would be afraid he would distract him. Or worse, Shikamaru. He chuckled. His son hated troublesome women. He wondered what would happen if he ever came into contact with this one.

The girl was coughing loudly.

"Miss?" he said, in an attempt to check if she was okay.

"The name's Temari," she snarled.

"Temari," he said in confirmation. Definitely the kitchen. This one might try to kill him in his sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! 1st authors note! Woohoo! lol, just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews! for both my first and second story. I'm so glad you like them! Little/No shikatema interaction in this chapter! But lots and lots in the next I promise! lol, R&R pretty please! love and cookies

SP7

* * *

Yoshino examined the dead bird in front of her. She was trying to ignore the girl beside her shaking. Incessant movement. Incessant unnecessary movement was all it was.

This girl was wasting all of her energy simply by shaking.

Yoshino sighed. She had tried to instil a sense of efficiency into her house servants. Attempted to broaden their horizons, teach them proper manners- the way to live their life properly.

She knew that the Sunese slaves would be set free someday. It would be idiocy to think otherwise. Sooner or later some well meaning politician would write a Bill outlining why slavery was wrong and would thus make every other politician ashamed of themselves and it would be declared illegal. If he wasn't a part of the military, she wouldn't have been surprised if it had been Shikaku to take such steps.

She sighed again. She really needed to toughen that man up. But twenty years of marriage and little had changed. Yoshino supposed if the military was unable to remove the man's weaknesses, then she had little hope. But, that didn't stop her from trying.

Either way, when her house servants were set free, she was resolved that they would leave her manor with grace and sensibility. Some of them had arrived here no better than savages. Her tutelage in such matters was more than enough payment.

"I suppose it will do," she said finally turning her head to face the servant. "But tell the chef that if he can't find one with any more meat on it next time, then cook the fish instead, you understand?"

The girl shook her head vigorously and hurried away with the pheasant.

"At this rate the Yamanaka's will stop coming to dinner," she muttered to herself.

Yoshino was about to scrunch her face in annoyance, then thought better of it. Wrinkles were an unnecessary consequence of Inoichi's meddling. Just because he had to look like an unshaven baboon didn't mean everyone else had to look as ugly.

He had never liked Shikamaru's betrothal to Ino. Even, when they were babies, Yoshino would have to spend hours convincing him that it was all for the best. Not that Shikaku ever helped in the matter. She had a sneaking suspicion that he shared Inoichi's views.

**Flashback**

"They are children, Yoshino," Inoichi said as if he was talking to a five year old, "you can't go ahead and plan out their whole lives. Shikamaru may want to travel. Ino may fall in love with another man. As much as you and my wife would love to have control over their whole destinies it is not possible."

"My dearest Inoichi, you misunderstand my intentions," Yoshino simpered trying not to hit the man with a large lamp. "Shikamaru and Ino get on very well, even now, young as they are. They are both from good families, well brought up and this way we can ensure that neither of them will marry the 'wrong people'. Surely, you do not want Ino to run away with some foreigner and to never see her again. It would be unthinkable. You must see how this is for the best."

**End Flashback**

With a lot of help from his wife, Inoichi had reluctantly agreed.

Only ten more months, Yoshino told herself. And then he could not back out. However, even if he did change his mind, it made little difference now. Ino and Shikamaru both already knew and as far as she could tell, her future daughter-in-law was extremely excited about the wedding. Her son was a different matter. But then again, she hadn't seen him express excitement since the age of eight, so that was to be expected.

"Yoshino? Are you down here?"

She sighed as she heard her husband's voice.

"I'm in the pantry," she called back up.

This would be interesting. Would Shikaku have come home with a man fit for gardening, like the house actually required, or would it be another timid, frightened girl in his attempts to save them all from the sex trade?

Shikaku rounded the door frame and.....

He was smiling. It was a girl.

* * *

Yoshino was half right, she thought. It was a girl. But this one was not timid.

The girl had not said a word since Yoshino had informed her that she would be working in the kitchens. However she glared.

Those eyes. They pierced you.

All her husband would have to do would be to bring this girl in front of parliament and they would call off the Sunese raids from the look in those eyes alone.

If she did not trust Shikaku, she might have been suspicious. She reckoned he thought her jealous, maybe even a little put out by the appearance of so many young women. But she knew better. Her husband was too lazy to be unfaithful.

If nothing else she could pretend to be jealous and receive gifts for the next several months. She could do with some new jewellery.

"Your uniform is made of cheesecloth, and you should instruct the warden that you require a blue one. He will then show you the servant's quarters from which you should select a free room. Preferably one near another female maid, that way you can shadow her the next day and.....Are you even listening to me, girl?"

The girl flashed her eyes back to Yoshino and continued to glare.

She didn't beat the servants. But if there were ever one who needed a good lesson in manners, this girl was it.

She sighed to steady her patience.

"Follow me," she instructed the servant. After walking several steps, she noted the girl had not moved.

Yoshino sighed again.

Why did she marry a soft hearted man? As far as she could tell this girl would have been better off in a brothel. There was no hope of her ever learning manners if she wouldn't follow simple instructions.

She couldn't figure out why the girl bothered her though. More so than the others. All of Shikaku's imports had been shaking, crying, some had even vomited there in front of her. They had all been so grateful that Yoshino was granting them their life, giving them clothes and a bed to sleep in.

This....woman.....

There was no fear in those eyes. They were................

Defiant.

Self-assured.

Strong.

She would cause trouble this girl. Yoshino could feel it in her bones.

* * *

Temari surveyed the blue uniform. It was better than nothing. A long skirt that came up to form a long sleeved shirt that was buttoned up at the front. It was all topped off by a white lacy collar.

Temari laughed. They were really determined to make them look like Konohanians weren't they.

When she dressed, she exited her small room and made her way to the kitchen. It was a hubbub of life. There were men running everywhere and several girls dressed in the same uniform as she was trying not to get tripped over.

She gathered there was a big dinner tonight. Pompous pigs. Dining like this when there were people in her homeland starving to death. She had constantly heard talk of how the Konoha politicians said there was no more money for aid.

Bullshit, she thought as she looked around.

A man thrust a copper bowl at her and instructed her to mash the potatoes that were contained in it.

"I thought Mrs. Nara ordered roast potatoes for tonight, sir?" a small girl questioned.

"Shikamaru only eats mashed," the man said by way of reply and handed Temari a silver instrument. She assumed this was for mashing the potatoes.

Temari made her way over to a free spot on the kitchen counter and began mashing.

"Shikamaru only eats mashed."

She mused over that piece of information in her head.

Temari didn't know who Shikamaru was. But he sounded like a stuck up, rich asshole.

She remembered when the potato imports had stopped in Suna. It was the last of their food. The bread had dried up weeks ago and any milk that remained was sour. There was no water in the desert.

Several young children had died within two days, unable to take the heat along with the lack of nourishment.

This person, whoever he was, didn't even know how lucky he was to have potatoes- never mind how they were cooked.

Her motions upon the potatoes were becoming frantic as she banged the metal into the bowl. She finally stopped, weak from exertion.

Temari looked up to see if there was any water to drink. There was a sink in the corner of the room. She made her way over to the other side of the kitchen and stood in front the sink. Bending down underneath it to look for a glass, she found only a small red box.

Temari smirked as she surveyed the label.

She'd show this Shikamaru how lucky he was to have good potatoes.

She poured a large amount of the Rat Poison into her hand and walked back her bowl.

As she stirred the powder in, Temari wondered, that when the Sunan Army termed the war against Konoha, "Killing the Rats" did they ever know it would become this literal.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Naruto- Woot! First "in fiction" disclaimer! lol

I also don't own anything by Robert Kyle Newton or anything from West Side Story (cookies to those who spot the reference!)

Thanks so much to all who reviewed, especially Sand-Jounin-Temari and ClaimedbytheNight- your reviews made me smile!:D

* * *

"Oh my god," Shikamaru groaned as he finished emptying the contents of his stomach into his toilet.

He sat back against the wall, sweating and trying not to pass out.

Apparently, he'd been poisoned.

Not enough to kill him, the doctor reassured his mother but just enough to mean that he'd been throwing up anything and everything he ate for the next week.

After getting sick of throwing up nothing but bile he decided to force himself to eat just to have some solid substance to upchuck.

"Ugh," he managed to choke out as he felt his stomach shift again.

After surviving another round he felt semi normal and decided to crawl back into bed. He was breathing very heavily, dehydrated because every time he drank the water tasted like sick and sweating profusely.

Seventeen, he thought. Seventeen and he'd already been a victim of attempted murder. Just like him. If there was anyone fated to have death threats before they were legally an adult it was him.

Troublesome.

If he could open his mouth without vomiting he would have voiced that opinion.

He heard a knock at the door.

He didn't have the energy to answer.

Shikamaru barely registered the fact that Hinata had entered the room and was now checking his temperature with her hand.

She frowned slightly and moved away from his eyesight.

Then reappeared with a silver tray.

"The food you asked for, Sir?"

Shikamaru was about to answer when Hinata shrieked, dropped the tray and then disappeared out of his eye line again.

* * *

It was worth it, Temari reasoned.

Yes, her food had been cut. She'd been handcuffed to the bed- much to the chagrin of the man who brought her here, but the angry woman who she assumed was the lady of the house insisted upon it. Finally, she'd been forced to clean the servant's toilets when she wasn't chained to the bed.

But it was worth it. She'd obviously caused enough trouble to be treated like this.

She snorted.

If they thought she was going to lie down and take this goddamn treatment like a kitten they were wrong.

The room to the door opened.

It was the angry woman. Temari glared at her defiantly- she hoped. Maybe if she caused enough trouble they'd let her go.

The woman said nothing and fished a key out of her pocket. After she unchained Temari, she grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and dragged her out the room.

"OW!" Temari said loudly as the woman continued to pull her down the corridors and up the stairs to the main house.

Temari was about to attempt to kick the woman when she was stopped by the view.

The house was..................

Amazing.

Gigantic.

It looked like a palace. The walls were blue and bordered with gold paint. There were white flowers everywhere and Temari couldn't have counted how many vases and pieces of artwork she saw as she passed the front door.

She was pulled up the main staircase which was made of marble. She was too speechless to protest when she realised there was a door being opened and she was being shoved into the room.

* * *

Shikamaru managed to sit up slightly in order to search for Hinata and saw that the door to his room had been thrown open.

He saw a whirl of blonde and blue and finally his mother enter.

"There," she snarled. "On your knees you insolent brat," his mother said trying to push the blonde thing to the floor. Shikamaru didn't see her properly because he was too distracted looking for Hinata.

He looked to the left side of his bed and saw Hinata crouched on the floor shaking and whimpering. She looked as if she was about to start praising some deity.

"I don't think she was talking to you," he said to Hinata attempting to calm her down. He understood his mother could be scary but she didn't need to start crying.

"Up off your knees you silly girl!" his mother scolded. "This has nothing to do with you!"

Hinata remained where she was.

Shikamaru looked back to his mother, seeing Hinata as a lost cause.

He stopped.

He suddenly had the energy to sit up properly.

The blonde girl was breathing heavily and glaring at him.

His heart stopped. Her eyes.

She was so far away from him yet he felt as if he was standing face to face her.

Cheesy as it was he could only think of one poem that he had read with Asuma once;

"When the gaze of my eyes meets yours,

My heart starts bleeding and my eyes start weeping."

He wanted to weep. The pain in this girl's eye was unbearable. His heart was bleeding because he would've given anything to remove that pain.

She was too beautiful to be unhappy.

His own ordinary eyes gazed upon her face. He didn't want to look away.

He knew she was wearing a servant's uniform but he didn't want to confirm it with his eyes. That meant she was most likely a slave.

This girl was too exceptional to be a slave. She should've had paintings commissioned of her, poetry written about her, music composed. Anything but this.

This girl was meant to inspire not to serve.

"Who?...." he was about to attempt to voice his thoughts when he was cut off by his mother, obviously still dissatisfied by Hinata's behaviour.

"You!" she said stalking over to Hinata. "When I tell you to get off your knees, you do so, do you understand me?" she growled.

Hinata remained where she was.

"Get off your knees, Hinata," came the girl's voice. It was much stronger and deeper than Shikamaru would've imagined it to be. She spoke with authority. If she had spoken to him like that he would've done anything she wanted.

"Who do you think you are, girl...." his mother started but she stopped when she saw Hinata rise.

Hinata's eyes were red with tears; she was sniffing all over the place and still shaking.

"We are all equals here," the blonde said quietly.

Hinata squeaked.

"Princess Temari," she said in a high shaky voice laden with tears, "I could never hope to be your equal. I have a prayed so many nights that you were safe and alive and here you are. What would you wish me do, Princess?" Hinata said swallowing and kneeling before Temari again.

Princess?

That made sense, Shikamaru thought. She looked the epitome of every description he had ever heard of a Princess.

But there was something else.

Ino, Shikamaru mused, could well have been a Princess. Blonde, blue eyed, pretty and girly.

But there was something in this girl's manner. The way she held her head so high; the proud look in her eyes; the straightened back and shoulders.

The feeling that she gave off- "Worship me, or else."

Shikamaru, himself, had a feeling that if love at first sight existed, that this was it. But he couldn't be sure.

All he knew was that he wanted to talk to her. To hear her voice again. He never wanted to talk to anyone.

He wanted her out of that stupid blue dress. The pearls and diamonds that he saw his mother and Ino prance around in daily. That was what she should be dressed in.

He wanted to do something-anything- to take that sad look out of her eyes. That pain.

His mother's mouth was hanging open. She had that look in her eye that meant she was about to do something that would make Shikamaru ashamed to be related to her.

She stalked over to Hinata and was about to grab her by the scruff but the Princess stepped in front of the girl's kneeling figure. She stared defiantly at his mother.

"Hinata," she said never shifting her gaze from his mother's eyes, "I want you to go down to my room. It's the one opposite the pastry kitchen. Wait for me there. I'll be down in a minute."

"Yes, milady," Hinata sniffed. She stood up, bowed to Temari's back and exited the room.

Shikamaru could see his mother was livid just by staring at the back of her head. She grabbed the girl by her shoulder. Temari didn't wince but Shikamaru did for her. No one should be touching this girl so roughly.

Yoshino proceeded to haul the girl over to the right side of Shikamaru's bed and to force her down on her knees.

"I take it you're Shikamaru," the girl said with a grin on her face and a glint in her eyes. "You enjoy your potatoes?" she said, grin widening.

The effect hearing her say his name had on Shikamaru was lessened by the fact that his mother slapped the girl on the back on the head. Hard.

He glared at his mother as best as he could.

"Apologise," she snarled to Temari.

* * *

Shikaku bolted up the stairs as fast as he could.

He had been entering the house with the new gardener Yoshino had ordered him to find, and whilst showing him his room he heard a black haired girl excitedly talking to a small group of people gathered around.

"Our princess," she cried. "Our princess has returned to us. She will surely tell us what to do. Temari was always so wise and fearless. We can rely on her. Our prayers have been answered," she wept joyfully.

The girl stopped as soon as she saw Shikaku. She looked frightened for her life and stepped behind one of the larger cooks.

Shikaku walked over to her.

"Where is she?" he asked her as authoritatively as he could. He really didn't want to frighten her but the way she had been talking.....it sounded as if......as if they dreamt of revolution. If that got out, they would be executed for treason. Shikaku refused to let that happen to them. Even if they hated his guts.

The girl stayed silent.

"I don't want to hurt her. I need to make sure she is safe. If the army finds out she is here they will execute her in case she attempts to restore the Sunan Monarchy. You need to tell me where she is so I can protect her."

Shikaku gazed into the girl's eyes attempting to make her understand.

"Hinata, don't!" one of the younger men interjected, when the girl opened her mouth to speak.

"In your son's room," the girl said quietly, not looking at him.

He thanked Hinata as earnestly as he could and ran towards the hall.

As soon as he made it to Shikamaru's room, he pushed the door open and was greeted by a very peculiar sight.

His son was sitting up in bed for one. That was new.

Temari- he should've known it would have been her- was kneeling at the bed smirking at Shikamaru and Yoshino was behind her, her hand pressing on Temari's shoulder and a look of extreme violence on her face.

Then two heads turned to look at him.

All in the room, except Shikamaru's. He never took his eyes off the girl's face. Shikaku kept looking at his son. Pleading, praying that his eyes would move. Flicker. Blink. Anything to tell Shikaku that he hadn't already fallen in love.

But they never moved.

Inwardly, Shikaku actually felt his heart sink. As if things weren't bad enough already.

He breathed, before looking at Yoshino.

"Let her off the floor, dear."

"Not until she apologises. He was up all night throwing up. He hasn't been this bad since he was a baby. The harlot is not getting up until she apologises," Yoshino spat out.

"Mum," he heard his son speak, "let her up. Please."

His son had never said please in his life. Not that he was rude. Just that he never asked for anything. Most of anything that he could ever need or want was supplied for him before he even had the chance to ask.

Yoshino obviously noticed this too. She stared open-mouthed at the boy for a moment before her hand slipped off Temari's shoulder.

Temari got up off her knees, brushed her dress down and looked at Shikamaru.

"Thanks," she said giving him a wry smile, "sorry 'bout the vomiting. Next time I'll just make sure I get the bitch's plate," she finished tilting her head towards his wife.

Temari then winked at him and sauntered out of the room, elbowing Shikaku in the ribs before she exited.

"Can you believe the gall of that girl?!" Yoshino asked incredulously. "I swear Nara Shikaku, you really can pick them! 'Next time', as if there will be a next time! The INSOLENCE! She is NOT working in the kitchen anymore! Where in God's green earth will I put her?! She'd probably put itching powder in our beds if she cleaned!"

His wife's complaining continued all down the hall, long after she had left the room.

Shikaku shut the door.

He hadn't failed to notice the dumbstruck look on his son's face. He was obviously finding out about women and their smiles. Temari hadn't even properly smiled at Shikamaru. He didn't want to think what would happen if she did.

His wife's plans with Ino were in severe danger and she didn't even know it. He had to nip this in the bud before there was a war going on in his own back garden.

"You okay?" he asked making his way over to Shikamaru's bed and sitting on the edge of it.

His son nodded, still obviously lost in thought.

"She's a Sunan," Shikaku said firmly, never moving his eyes from Shikamaru's face.

The boy's eyes fell to his knees.

"She's a Sunan Princess," he pressed. "There is no way that......"

"I know," Shikamaru cut in sharply, still studying his knees. "I know, okay?"

So this was it, Shikaku mused. This was the time when Shikamaru would finally realise what his lifelong engagement to Ino actually meant. What he would lose. The restraints it would place on him. On his emotions.

He had never wanted this for his son. But right now he could see the reason for Yoshino's meticulous planning. "The wrong person" she had said at the time. It was all to prevent Ino and Shikamaru running off with "the wrong person". A Sunan, by definition, was exactly the "wrong person".

If Shikaku could ever say he hoped for anything in his life, it was that Shikamaru would never have discovered those restraints.

But he had. Too quickly. And it wasn't the prevention of travel as Inoichi had predicted. Nor was it Ino who had fallen in love with another man.

It was forbidden fruit if he had ever seen it.

A beautiful, exotic, desirable, older woman with a killer smile and a feisty attitude. How could Shikamaru not have fallen? Shikaku had told his son of the Nara curse and the led him right into the trap.

This was his fault. He should've known it would've happened sooner or later and yet he kept tempting fate by bringing more and more young women home.

"What should I do?" he heard the boy mumble.

Parenting. It had never been his strong suit. Well, he could never bring Shikamaru up in the way Yoshino wanted him to be brought up. He wanted his son to be....happy. Compassionate.

Yoshino wanted him to be rich. Powerful. Influential. Notable.

The result of the two attempts at bringing the boy up differently was...apathy. Lethargy. Laziness.

Thus, here he was. It was him. He had to make the decision how to raise his son. This was probably the final time the boy would ever ask for his advice. And it was about love. How he answered this question would govern Shikamaru for the rest of his life.

If he took Yoshino's route he would say, "You're engaged to Ino. You made a commitment and you are now a man. Men follow through on commitments."

If he took his own he would tell him to follow his heart. "True love is rare. Even rarer is to have the ability to act on it. You have the girl here. Now. Don't let her get away."

Shikamaru was now looking at him. Shikaku hadn't been ready for this moment.

So he did what his son would expect him to do. He proved to the boy that he was in fact "whipped" as he said.

Shikaku looked at his son and told him all about being a man, making commitments and keeping them. And as he looked at Shikamaru he saw the youth slip out of his eyes.

And he felt the pride slip out of his own.

But, it was all for the best.

Shikamaru had lost his heart to a Sunan Princess, but Konoha still had his brain.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys- hope you enjoy this chapter. As always I don't own Naruto even though I forget to say it most times! lol. Apologies for the lack of shikatema interaction in this chapter- again, but I'm taking my time with this fic! I have the next two chapters already written out so they should be up soon enough! Thanks to everyone who reviewed- really made me happy! Enjoy :D

* * *

As Temari wearily made her way back down to the servant's quarters, she noticed a painting hanging beside a tall door.

The painting was of a woman in a long, dark blue dress that covered all of her body. She was wearing a matching head scarf that was blowing in the wind, streaming out the woman's right side. All around her, the desert was creating a storm. Sand particles enclosed the woman's figure so that the observer couldn't see her face or her hands. She was dressed in traditional Sunan clothes but if the clothes had no shape it would've appeared to be an empty shell of material floating in the wind.

Temari knew this painting. It used to hang in the Sunese Museum of Art. She wasn't surprised to see the painting here. When the raids started, the museum was the first thing to be robbed. Her mother used to take her there when she was young and point out all of her favourites. Temari used to ask her mother who the woman was.

"It is me," she would reply. "And one day, it will be you." This puzzled the younger Temari. She could see nothing of her mother in that painting. Or of herself. But she loved it all the same, because her mother did. And when, for her thirteenth birthday, her father asked her who she would like to paint her, she named the artist of "The Queen of the Desert".

Temari understood now why it was her mother. It was clear to the observer, in name at least. But she knew more. Her mother never knew who she was. Even though her mother knew the painting was of her, she could not see her face any more clearly than anyone else who looked upon that painting.

And her mother was right. Temari was the woman now. She knew who she used to be. She used to be Grand Duchess Temari of Suna. That was her official title. But as Temari studied the painting, desperately searching for the face of the woman, she could not find it. She could not find herself. She was going to enter the servant's quarters. And they would look at her, with eyes wide, expecting her to lead them. To fight for them. To fight for Suna.

She couldn't even fight for her brothers. She couldn't even keep Gaara from despair or Kankuro from the clutches of the invaders. She couldn't even save herself.

Temari had been wearing a mask all of her life as Princess. Now, the mask had been blown away in the storm the war created and Temari looked upon the painting to find she had no idea who she was.

* * *

"We will do nothing,"Temari said, with as much authority as she could muster. She had not been prepared for this. It was Gaara. Gaara was the one her father had named as heir. Temari would never be Queen and she was happy with that. She never studied leadership. She contented herself with trying to fill the void her mother had left for her brothers. It was enough.

"Nothing?!" one the boys said incredulously. "How can we do nothing?! Some of us have been stuck here for nearly three years and you plan to do nothing?!"

"Gaara is King. You intend to insult your King by taking action without him?" she replied, glaring at the boy expectantly.

Silence was the reply from the crowd. Of course, Temari smiled inwardly. They all adored Gaara. Little bundle of red hair when he was born, cover of all the magazines, celebrated as a gift from God. None of them would dare disrespect Gaara.

"Gaara is alive. I am sure of it. He has not given up. He has not given up on you or Suna," Temari said berating herself for sounding like her father. "We will stay here and we will wait until he finds us. Consider yourselves lucky. None of you are in the brothels or the army. You are here, safe with a bed to sleep in and food to survive upon. It would be foolish to run from that with nowhere to go. The army would track us down and execute us on the spot. There are too few of us. We need to stay here until we can gather more numbers. The more slaves they bring here the better; they are just playing into our hands."

Inwardly, Temari hated her own hypocrisy. She had spent her first few days here plotting escape and now she was telling them to sit tight. But things had changed. She was responsible now. She had to be.

She hadn't reckoned on them recognising her in Konoha. Her face wasn't as famous as Gaara's and she did her best to stay out of the press unlike Kankuro.

Of course Hinata would recognise her. She was the closest thing Temari had to a friend back in Suna. Well, one that wasn't in it for the notoriety of being friends with the Princess.

"If that is what you think is best, milady, then of course, it is what we shall do," Hinata said quietly. The crowd mumbled agreement and bowed to her before dispersing back to their rooms.

"Could you please tell them all to stop bowing at me? I am not my mother or my father. They have no reason to bow to me," Temari said crossly to Hinata. Anything that reminded her of the old days was like a bruise upon her brain. Her life before....she didn't want to think about it. She couldn't think about it. Not now.

"They respect you, milady. They love you. They loved the Royal Family. They wish to show their happiness that you are still with us. We all felt sure that all of our Royalty had been executed. It is reassuring to know that some of our old ways remain," Hinata answered wisely.

The old ways, Temari thought. As she surveyed her hands, scathed and cut, she disagreed with that thought. As she looked at Hinata's face, dirty and worn, she laughed inwardly that some still felt that Suna was alive. As she remembered the faces of the crowd, unhappy and questioning, Temari couldn't understand how it had come to this. How they had let Suna come to this.

Her father hadn't done a very good job of being King. He hadn't cared about his people enough. He loved the desert, sure enough, but he hadn't felt privileged to be King of such a great nation. He thought it was his "divine right". He was infallible in the eyes of both himself and his advisors. That was what had led them to this point.

No more, Temari thought, as she looked at Hinata's face. She would not let them suffer like this anymore. She had tried and failed to protect her brothers but these people were the closest thing that she had to family now and until she could find a way of getting them out of this mess, she would look after them, the way a Princess was supposed to look after her people.

Temari may have not known her own face, but now she had a reason. A reason to remember who she used to be. She used to be Grand Duchess Temari of Suna and she would be that woman again, and more. She would lead her people because that was what they needed her to do. That was what she was supposed to do. And even if she couldn't see her own face now, this might be the closest she would ever come to finding it.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Naruto! :D

Hey guys! Just wanted to say thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter- I was very flattered. I didn't know introspectives were so popular! lol

anywho- I know you're all getting impatient for some shikatema action but I promise it is coming up soon! and once it arrives there will be lots and lots of it! also, more characters entering asap.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! R&R pretty please!:D

SP7

* * *

Shikamaru trudged his way down the stairs from his room. It had been a week since the poisoning incident and his stomach was feeling....passable. He had been restricted to soup.

He was having trouble forgetting his encounter with his dad. He always knew his dad was under the thumb of his mother. Well, suppressed under a giant hand was a more apt description, but he always thought that when it came to the things that mattered, he could rely on his dad to give him good advice. Now he wasn't so sure.

Shikamaru had never felt more trapped in his life. By his house. His bedroom. His parents. The atmosphere in Konoha had suddenly become unbearably claustrophobic. But it was less troublesome to stay here and stick it out. It's not like he had the option to leave anyways. His mother would track him down, kill him, resurrect him and then chain him to the alter.

He pushed on the door to the drawing room and made his way in. It always rubbed against him that his mother had painted this room a light pink. It was unbearable to look at which was why he spent so little time in this room. It was like the rest of the house really. Covered in art and vases with flowers everywhere. It looked like his mother was running a museum.

On a plush chintz couch sat Ino, surrounded by folders and a large amount of baked goods with sunlight streaming onto her. Afternoon tea with Ino. And she had folders. That meant she wanted to talk about the wedding.

Joy.

"Shikamaru!" she said brightly, "I'm so happy you're feeling better. You threw us all off track with that little episode," she concluded, patting the space on the couch beside her.

Shikamaru chose the seat opposite.

"Us?" he forced himself to ask.

"Well, me, your mother, the dress maker, the caterer, the musicians, the florist and my mother, of course!" Ino said pouring him some tea. Shikamaru had no idea he was so vital. "Cake or biscuit?" she said, gesturing to the plates on the table.

"Neither," he mumbled, "My stomach's not quite used to proper food yet."

He couldn't really be bothered eating anymore. It took too much energy to throw up.

Shikamaru surveyed the food with disdain. It was all pink and iced and covered in sugar. Exactly like Ino, he thought. It looked pretty, was pleasant to consume for a while but in the end all it left you with was stomach pains. After a while you longed for something....real. Good for you.

"Here you go," Ino said, pushing the tea towards him. He hadn't noticed, but whilst he was daydreaming Ino had poured legions of sugar into his tea. He sipped it with distaste. Why was everything around here so goddamn sweet? Like they were trying to bubble wrap him in candyfloss.

"Now," she said, satisfied that he had tasted the tea, "what do you think of these table settings? I really feel that Wedgewood is the way to go....but then the Royal Doulton is pretty too. And Mummy practically insists upon it. What do you think?" she asked as she pushed the laminated folder towards him.

Shikamaru tried to think logically.

"Which ones will you want to keep after the day?" he asked, barely glancing at the folder. He couldn't bring himself to say wedding.

"Shikamaru!" Ino cried, with a flamboyant hand gesture, "Don't be so silly! We won't be keeping either! We'll pick out separate china for the house," she said, half chuckling. "I swear, you men! What would you do without me?!"

"Isn't that kind of a waste?" he said, more to himself than Ino. "We use them for one day and then throw them out?"

Ino had opened her mouth to reply when the door to the room opened.

Shikamaru turned to begin praising the person who had interrupted this conversation when....his heart stopped. Again. God, he really needed to sort that out.

"Sorry to interrupt," Temari mumbled, not sounding sorry at all, "Your mother said something about vases." She then shut the door and made her way to the corner of the room where she reached for a painted vase that was sitting on a stand and began to clean it. His mother must have put her in cleaning after all. That made sense, Shikamaru thought. If she was cleaning in the main house there would always be someone from the family to keep an eye on her at all times.

Her hair was different, Shikamaru noticed. It had been pulled back into a low bun that all the maids wore. Her bangs still hung onto her forehead though. For some reason that made him smile. Like even her hair was rebelling.

She looked even prettier today than she had before. He couldn't help but notice the contrast between her and Ino. Whilst the pink room and the sun made Ino look fake.....manufactured....plastered in make-up; it made Temari glow. The pink reflected on her cheeks and made her look healthy....alive.

He was so tempted to say something to her. To get her attention. To get her to notice him. Up until this point the only thing that had garnered her attention was his potatoes. He wondered if she would even want to talk to him. She probably just thought of him as some Konohanian pig who had wrecked her homeland and stolen her freedom. He should say something to her. Even if it was just to let her know that he wasn't like the rest of them. He didn't agree with what was happening in Suna. Shikamaru sighed as he pushed the thoughts out of his head. To say something to her in front of Ino would mean suicide. He barely said anything at all to anyone-Ino would know something was up if he talked to someone else off of his own bat.

Shit. Ino had been talking and was now glaring at him for not responding. Ugh. Troublesome.

"Fine," she said with an air of finality. "If you're not interested in this then.....you, girl!" she continued, clicking at Temari, "what do you think of these table settings?"

Temari didn't move.

Ino's eyes narrowed as she had obviously expected Temari to come running to her as soon as she called her.

"Why would I care?" Temari finally responded in a low voice, turning to face Ino, "you're the one getting married, not me."

Ino's mouth fell open and stayed that way for a few moments.

Temari smirked and turned back to the vase. Inwardly, Shikamaru was chuckling, but he knew to laugh out loud would mean punishment- 'Ino style'- it usually involved his mother and shopping.

"I swear!" Ino seethed, leaning in towards Shikamaru, "you just can't get the help these days! They are all so surly! Take recently, for example. My father brought home this wreck of a boy. Small, skinny little thing. Obviously hadn't eaten in weeks. The most unsightly red hair. And his eyes! So sunken in and dark. Like he hadn't slept in forever! Mummy swore he came straight from the devil...."

Shikamaru had been barely listening, still thinking about Temari. He noticed when she rolled her eyes at Ino's comments. He noticed when she licked her lips and chewed on the corner of her mouth whilst she worked. And he definitely noticed when she let the vase slip out of her hand and crash onto the floor, shattering it to pieces.

Temari turned to face Ino, mouth open and breathing slightly heavier than usual. She looked at Ino for a moment and then ran out of the room.

"_What_ was that about?" Ino whispered conspiratorially.

Shikamaru had no idea. But he had every intention of finding out.

* * *

She had had her food cut for a week, Shikamaru had found out through pressing Hinata for details. A gold vase was apparently worth a week of food in his mother's eyes.

It wasn't fair, Shikamaru mused. He had broken twice as many vases as that before when he was younger and the worst punishment he ever received was a small smack from his nanny. She must be hungry by now, he thought, as he gazed at his bedroom ceiling. He hadn't bothered closing the curtains tonight. He knew he wouldn't sleep- he hadn't slept properly for two nights since the incident. It was driving him crazy trying to figure out why she had dropped the vase. It was no accident, he was sure of that. At least the moon would give him something to stare at.

He let out a sigh of frustration as he turned to face the wall. He was just going to have to go ask her. That was all there was to it. His sleep depended upon it. Troublesome. He never thought about anything this much. Not unless Asuma forced him to. Why did she have to come here? He was happier when he had resigned himself to a life with Ino. As much as he didn't love her, Ino was structure. A plan. This one woman had waltzed her way into his life and was making him question everything. Like, if he married her instead of Ino, what would his life be like? Would she be different to talk to than Ino? She was probably different from any person he'd ever talked to before in his life.

The unjustice of it all hit him at that moment. He was only seventeen! What other boy his age had to think about crap like marriage? He was tired. Tired of thinking about this. Tired of having his whole life planned out for him. When did things become so.............troublesome?

He might as well bring her some food whilst he was braving the depths of the servant's quarters. She might be more receptive to answering his questions if he fed her. She might be more receptive to him. She seemed like an angry person. But unlike his mother or Ino, she made no attempts to disguise it. As much as he had no desire to go converse with an angry, hungry woman, he was sick of everyone talking to him like he was an idiot. Well, everyone except Asuma.

No time like the present, he told himself, as he rolled off the bed. Reluctantly.

Trudging his way quietly down the stairs, he was about to head to the room he knew as the kitchen when he remembered that there would be no real food there. It was purely for show. The real kitchen was down in the servant's quarters.

How the hell was he going to get down there? The door would be locked without a doubt.

He jumped as he heard footsteps behind him.

"Can I help you?" a voice said as Shikamaru whipped round.

"Who are you?" Shikamaru asked incredulously. The man was dressed in male servant's clothing and holding up a small light.

"I'm Genma," he said, "the night butler."

"I didn't know we had a night butler," Shikamaru said, scratching the back of his head.

"I've only been here a little while," Genma explained, "your mother employed me after she got sick of your father's complaints that there was no food to be had after everyone went to bed."

"Oh," Shikamaru let out, "that makes sense."

"You looking for something to eat?" Genma asked.

Shikamaru could see at once why this guy was the night butler. His mother would have killed him for talking to house members like that during the day.

"Can you let me down into the servant's quarters, please?" Shikamaru asked, hoping that the request didn't sound too suspicious. "I play cards with the chefs sometimes," he continued on a whim that that sounded like a plausible excuse.

"Hey man, I do what you tell me to," the man said with a grin on his face, "some of the chicks down there are pretty hot," he said winking at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru chose to ignore that remark.

"Thanks," he whispered to Genma as he shut the door from the inside. He had never been down here before, he mused. It was dark. He could only see little blobs of light in the distance.

He continued down the corridor and saw light coming out from underneath a door frame.

Shikamaru pushed the door open and looked at the scene in front of him.

Hinata was hunched over the kitchen table with a large handful of grapes and was busy stuffing them into her mouth. She dropped them whenever she saw Shikamaru.

"Sir!" she squeaked, scrambling down to the floor to gather the grapes, "I'm so sorry! I didn't expect to see you down here and...."

"Hinata," Shikamaru cut in with a large smile on his face. He'd never seen the girl look so happy as she did when she was stuffing those grapes into her mouth. "It's okay if you're hungry. As a matter of fact I'm glad you're up. I need some help."

* * *

Several minutes later, Shikamaru made his way out of the kitchen and took the directions Hinata gave him to Temari's room. He surveyed the sandwich on the plate that she had helped him make. It was quite good. Better than anything he could make alone.

"Right," Shikamaru mumbled to himself, "she said pastry kitchen. It would have a large bun on the door, or something like that."

It occurred to Shikamaru that he was doing the exact opposite of what his father had advised him to do. It also occurred to him that he didn't care. If he only had nine more months of freedom left he intended to live them. That meant doing what he wanted. And he wanted to talk to Temari.

He wondered if it was the lack of sleep, but he felt...different somehow. No longer lazy. Well, no longer _as _lazy. No longer content with doing nothing and letting life pass him by.

His lack of sentiment was confirmed by the presence of a bun on the door he found himself in front of. That bun....it looked so stupid. So out of place....it was almost frivolous in this atmosphere. He turned to face the opposite door and was surprised to find that the door was lying open a fraction.

Shikamaru pushed it the rest of the way open and nearly dropped the sandwich. The bed was completely made up; the sheets weren't even creased and on closer inspection the door handle was nearly falling off the door. It had been bashed open.

At that moment he turned his head sharply as he saw moonlight stream in at the opposite end of the corridor. He could just about make out a figure making its way out of the door and slamming it shut.

Shikamaru dropped the sandwich and ran towards the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Happy sixth Harry Potter movie day to all!:D:D:D I'm posting this chapter just before I get ready to go see the film- (yes, I am a major Potter nerd :P).

This was originally two chapters, split into 3,000 words and 1,000 words each but I decided to put them together as I preferred the ending this way.

Note to all; can you tell that I'm from Northen Ireland? you will be able to after you read this chapter:P

Thank you all so much for the reviews for the last chapter- your encouragement is really helping me- i know that sounds dumb but everytime I read a review I go all fluffy inside! lol

Hope you all enjoy this chapter- thanks to _andy has an idea_ for all his words of encouragement.

I don't own Naruto

R&R pretty plz :)

SP7

* * *

Temari was running so fast that her lungs were starting to hurt. It probably wasn't the smartest idea; to be flitting through the streets of Konoha at one in the morning. It could draw attention to her. But she couldn't sit still anymore. Not knowing he was here. Alive. She had to see him. At least he might have some sort of a plan. Even if it was only to stay where they were. It was better than the constant questions running through her head as she continuously wondered if she was doing the right thing.

How in the hell was she going to find him?! He was working for the blonde stick. Like Temari had the slightest idea where she lived! There would have been no use asking the others; they were never let out unless they were sent on errands to the market.

Temari finally stopped running and looked around the deserted streets. Breathing heavily she attempted to gain her bearings. Looking behind her she could see the gates of Konoha. There was no one around. She could run for it if she wanted. It was the easier choice by far.

She almost slapped herself. What sort of pathetic coward would she have to be to run? She had enslaved for only four weeks and yet there were Sunan's like Hinata who had been trapped in Konoha for longer than they could remember. Attempting to instil herself with the fighting spirit that she was supposedly born with she turned her attention back to the task at hand. She decided that there was no way that they lived on the outskirts of town- she could see she was in the rich part of town by the plethora of manor's that surrounded her- maybe if she walked a little further downtown she might find an Inn or hotel where she could ask directions.

Another thought hit her.

How in God's name was she going to find her way back to her own personal prison?! She had no idea what the place looked like from the outside and had been running so fast that she hadn't bothered to look where she was going.

She had not thought this through.

Well, standing around wasn't going to get her anywhere. Taking in her surroundings in case she needed to find her way back she walked further into the town. The moon was bright tonight, she noticed. For some reason that calmed her. Temari remembered nights back in Suna when she would spend hours gazing at the moon, consumed by its ethereal glow. She smiled slightly to herself. Maybe Hinata was right. Maybe not everything had changed.

She was broken out of her reverie by the sound of someone huffing and puffing. She looked around; alarmed, in case anyone was running after her but was only met by the same glow that had captured her attention moments ago.

Yet, the sound continued. In fact, it was getting heavier. It was unnerving to be surrounded by a noise when you couldn't make out its source.

Temari attempted to follow the sound based on its volume and when it reached its maximum she stopped. Finding herself under a street lamp, Temari identified the source of the sound. It was coming from down an alley at the side of a less well off house. She hadn't noticed how far she had been wandering. Her eyes widened in shock and then the irony of the situation fell upon her. She could hardly contain her own mirth. In fact she had to bite her hand to stop herself from laughing.

After she couldn't look on anymore without making a sound herself, she thanked the Gods for her good luck and cleared her throat. Loudly.

"Having fun?" she asked the two figures in the alley way as both their heads snapped towards her. She knew she must have had a huge grin on her face right now. A Cheshire cat grin.

Tenten....that was the girl's name wasn't it?

The man grasping her by the thighs let her down from the wall whilst the brunette continued to breathe in and out heavily. After attempting to fix themselves in some sort of dignified manner and failing miserably, Tenten looked her square in the eye. Temari stared right back, still attempting to contain her laughter.

"Oh look Neji," she said, voice full of anger, "someone left the back door open and the dog got out."

Temari tutted. "And she saw some interesting sights," she said, grin still wide as ever and shaking her head.

Neji was still refusing to look her in the eye.

Tenten merely glared but was failing to hide the glint of worry that her eyes contained.

Temari leaned against the street lamp and folded her arms, studying the both of them. She recognised the boy. He was a Hyuuga, no doubt about it. The eyes were a dead giveaway. She wondered how she hadn't noticed him before. She also wondered why he hadn't killed her yet. He should have. She could tell from his uniform what side of the family he was on.

After the silence clearly got too unbearable for Neji's liking, he cleared his throat softly. "We were on patrol," he started by way of explanation, cheeks tingeing slightly.

"And you decided you'd checked everywhere else, so you might as well take a look under her skirt," Temari finished for him, tilting her head towards Tenten.

Neji breathed out heavily and looked away again.

"Look, I don't know what you think you've accomplished here, Blondie, but no one is going to care what you saw down at whatever whore house you reside in, so unless you want us to arrest you for unauthorised presence on the streets, I suggest you take that smug look off your pretty little face," Tenten spat out.

"Oh I don't think so," Temari said, her voice hardening, "No one may care down at whatever whore house your boyfriend over there frequents, but over at my place, I hear the guy I work for is a pretty big deal in your little institution. The name Nara ring a bell?" she quizzed, quite confident she had just produced a full house.

Her cards were confirmed by the fear stricken look the dynamic duo was now giving her.

"That's what I thought," she said quietly, still smirking at the two of them, "Now, seeing as you so kindly gave me directions right into the Nara household, I need another bit of help from you two. That is, if you don't mind," Temari simpered sarcastically.

Tenten was about to open her mouth to retort, when Neji grabbed her by the wrist. She fell silent.

"Awwwww, good for you, keeping your bitch on a leash. You need to train her better though. She yaps too much," Temari finished, trying not to laugh.

"What do you want?" Neji asked, finally looking Temari in the eye.

Resisting the urge to mock them more, Temari stepped forwards towards the pair.

"The boy, who lives in the Nara house..."

"Shikamaru," Neji cut in.

"Yes, him," Temari confirmed. "He's getting married. To some blonde girl. I need to know where she lives," she finished.

The look in both Tenten and Neji's eyes changed from intrigue to suspicion.

"What are you up to?" Tenten queried.

"Oh don't look so suspicious," Temari snapped, "I'm not going to murder her in her bed. Why I need to know where she lives is none of your concern. I'm not going to hurt her. That's all you need to know."

* * *

Shikamaru leaned on his knees. She had finally stopped. Thank God. He hadn't had this much exercise since....well, ever.

Breathing in and out heavily, he squinted. She had been joined by two other figures and..............wait. Was that?

Neji?

Moving forward slightly he confirmed his suspicions by identifying the pale colour of the boy's eyes. In fact it looked like he had no eyes at all from here.

He recognised the brunette girl as Neji's patrol partner. They had both frequented his house giving reports to his father. He couldn't remember her name though.

Shikamaru remembered there was a time when Neji was the only person in Konoha who he could stand talking to. He wasn't idiotic like any of the girls and was actually interesting to converse with.

Then he joined the army.

Shikamaru had often wondered what the exact reason for Neji's enrolment was.

He knew from his studies of pre-Sunan war history that Neji's family originated from Suna but the outbreak of war had split the family in two, dividing it between those that wished to remain allies with Konoha and those who wished to see the Monarchy in Suna remain. For three years, Shikamaru finally felt as though there was someone within this stupid town who he could see at socials and party functions and not have to run away from.

For a while after Neji enlisted, everything was okay. He still saw Neji at those ridiculous gatherings and talked to him in the same manner as he had always done.

But he made a mistake one day by meeting Neji at the army barracks for lunch. As he walked into the soldier's quarters, he saw Neji carrying his army uniform. It was covered in blood.

**Flashback**

"No need to look so worried Nara, it's not my blood," Neji said noticing the look on Shikamaru's face. "You don't give me enough credit as a soldier."

"No," Shikamaru mumbled, "I gave you too much."

**End flashback**

After that Shikamaru made excuses every time Neji wanted to meet up. He avoided him at parties and stayed in his room when he heard he was visiting the house, despite his mother's desperate attempts to coax him from his sanctuary.

Asuma had endeavoured to counsel him through it.

"I know you're annoyed because he turned out to be someone you thought he wasn't, but he's just following orders. Your father would do the same thing if he was ordered to. In fact, he probably has before. You have high moral standards, Shikamaru, and maybe I'm partly at fault for that, but not everyone can live up to your levels. Did you ever even bother to ask Neji why he enlisted?" he had said at the time.

His words had fallen on deaf ears though. The only message Shikamaru took from them was that both his dad and Neji had killed and even though he had always known it somewhere in the back of his head, to have it forced so brazenly in front of his face in the form of a blood stained shirt was too much for him. It was less troublesome to forget the whole sorry mess had ever happened and to retreat into his comfortable form of apathy.

As he broke out of his daydream another thought came upon Shikamaru. Either Temari had previously known Neji from Suna or she had some sort of weapon that he couldn't see, because at this point both Neji and the girl should be arresting Temari. That was what patrols were for. And yet, all of them remained perfectly still. It was like they were having some sort of standoff.

Oh crap. Temari was running towards him. Panicked, Shikamaru retreated further into the alleyway he had paused in and watched her run past him. Did she have to run everywhere? It wouldn't kill her to walk, he moaned inwardly as he followed her.

Okay, now he definitely had to be dreaming. He tiptoed down the alleyway she had just entered and saw her run towards the house at the end of it. Which was Ino's house. If his mother was here this was some sort of conspiracy.

He stood and watched her wander around Ino's house, from one side to another before she disappeared around the back.

He groaned out loud as he ran across the street and down the side of Ino's house. Temari was hunched over at what he could only assume was the door that led to Ino's own servant's quarters. She was rapping quietly on the door. After no response, her banging got more insistent. It was a wonder everyone in the house wasn't awake by now.

Shikamaru jumped as he saw the door open.

* * *

As soon as she saw red, Temari jumped.

"Thank God you still don't sleep at nights," she whispered to the small, red head she was now suffocating in her arms.

"And you still have no tact," Gaara replied, as she noticed he wasn't hugging her back. She sighed happily into his hair.

"You haven't changed a bit," she chuckled.

"It's been a little over a month and a half, Temari, you act as if it were years," he said, extracting himself from her arms.

"Well, it felt like it. I had no idea where you were. You might've been dead. Excuse me if I'm happy that you're alive," Temari said defensively, though she still couldn't keep herself from smiling.

"So, they got you too," he sighed, "I thought I told Kankuro to make sure you weren't taken," Gaara continued, although Temari had a suspicion he had said it more to himself than to her.

"You told him to look after me?" she said in small voice, giving him what she was very sure was a doe-eyed look. Temari had no idea she knew how to do that.

"I wouldn't go that far," Gaara said quietly, "I just said he shouldn't let you fight off the soliders."

"Like he had much of a choice," she said, smirking. "It doesn't make much of a difference now, anyways. I got lucky. I'm in the house of some military general cleaning for them. It's not so bad. There are other Sunan's there too."

"Oh, really?" Gaara said, his interest obviously now piqued, "anyone we know?" he asked, trying and failing not to sound concerned.

"Naruto's not there, Gaara," Temari said patting his shoulder, in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "I still think he's in Suna, we just couldn't find him, that's all."

Gaara nodded.

"Hinata's there though," she said, hoping it would cheer her brother up.

"Really? How is she?"

"Good, just a little dirtier than you would remember her. She's still as shy as ever though."

He nodded again.

She was almost afraid to ask the next question that was in her head. She didn't have to.

"It's bad, Temari," Gaara said, rubbing his eyes. In all her years as his sister, Temari didn't think she'd ever seen Gaara look this exhausted.

"How bad?" she almost whispered. She didn't have to ask to know that he was talking about Suna.

"Paramilitaries."

"What?!" she asked, incredulously. She had never thought that some of the people still left in Suna would attempt a resistance. She knew there were still some individuals fighting off the army, but to think that they had actually gotten their hands on weapons.

"Well, there's only the one group that I've heard of so far. They're calling themselves the Akatsuki, or something like that," Gaara continued looking her in the eyes. "Before I knew they existed, I was just thinking that if I could get to the Hokage without the army's interference, I could show him that I'm not dad. I don't want all this fighting anymore. I just want Suna back the way it was. Our borders restored. But now......I doubt he'd even talk to me. He probably thinks I'm leading them."

"How did you find all this out?" Temari quizzed, remembering that her youngest brother was in the same situation as she was. He must have been robbing the papers from the main house.

"Eavesdropping," Gaara replied with a wry smile. "Inoichi's big in the military too. I've managed to gain his trust and he's employed me as his manservant. I generally find some way or another to listen in on his meetings."

"You call him by his first name?" Temari questioned, inwardly chastising herself for not attempting to do the same thing.

"He's not so bad," Gaara said as he checked behind him to make sure no one else in the house had been alerted.

"What do you want to do?" she asked. She had come here to get some sort of plan from her brother and she wasn't leaving without one.

"We have to stay here and wait until we get some more information. I'm hoping that the group will declare themselves separate from the Monarchy soon enough. That way, I can attempt to get in contact with the Hokage and convince him that the raids are unnecessary. That might help the situation cool off at the very least."

"Are they separate from the Monarchy?" Temari asked, still nervous that this group might turn Suna into some sort of divided nation....well more so than it already was.

"I don't know," Gaara said giving her a meaningful look. "At any rate, we are separate from them. That's the point we need to get across."

Temari nodded.

She opened her mouth to speak.

"You haven't changed a bit either; always asking so many questions," Gaara commented wryly.

Ignoring that remark, though not without shooting him a look first, Temari forged ahead, "How hasn't he...the man you're working for....how hasn't he recognised you yet?"

"He has," Gaara replied simply, "I think that's why he's keeping me so close."

"To make sure you're not plotting anything?"

Gaara shook his head, "No. To make sure I don't get killed."

* * *

Shikamaru felt a burning sensation in his stomach. He identified the happiness in her eyes when she saw that red haired boy to be the source of his discomfort.

Of course she had to have a lover. She had too much life in her not to. Shikamaru had the feeling that she intended to live every experience that life threw at her.

He hated that boy. He hated him for how much he was taking for granted. He hadn't even hugged her when she had thrown herself upon him. The boy took for granted the ability to talk to her; to have her hands upon him; to have her affections, her love.

He almost chuckled at the thoughts that were running through his head. It was not as if he had ever had the chance to be with her. His fate had already been decided. This was no loss to himself. It was just a new discovery. A new fact to add to the ones he was learning about her every day.

Then why did the burning sensation refuse to go away? As he ran through the facts in his head of why they could never be, the feeling just intensified. He was afraid that it would never go away. That it would just sit in his stomach as a constant reminder of what he could never have.

Shikamaru sighed inwardly.

He was glad she had someone to make her happy. To make her smile like that.

Shikamaru turned to leave. He had no purpose to stand there anymore. He knew she was safe and what's more, that she was happy. Shikamaru half hoped that she wouldn't come back. It would be much easier on him that way. Much less troublesome.

He sighed as he trudged home. This was what he yearned for. Normality. A return to the way things were meant to be. This was what his father was talking about.

"Why where you following me?"

Shikamaru groaned inwardly as the voice wafted out from the darkness.

"Nara," the voice came again, "answer me."

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," he said, still not turning round to face her.

"Why?"

He inhaled and smelled the scent of the desert. It was like her voice was tainting the air around him.

"I don't know," he mumbled, resisting the urge to say 'troublesome' aloud.

She wandered up beside him as he edged himself away from her. Shikamaru felt that if he got too close to her she might disappear. Or kill him.

"Would you mind if I walked back with you?" she said quietly. "I don't really know the way," she said chuckling.

The response that her speaking to him elicited from his mind was....it was something. He felt like his heart was stopping. And that he couldn't breathe. Again.

What was wrong with him?!

He resigned himself to nodding.

They walked most of the way in silence. He had never noticed before that Konoha was designed for lovers. When they walked into any alleyway it pushed their bodies together, at an almost maddening proximity. If he tried to walk behind her, the moon and the shadows it created highlighted every curve of her body, every muscle in her swan-like neck. If he tried to walk in front of her, he found himself looking behind just to make sure that she was still there. That she hadn't run off. It grained upon him that if she ran, he was ready to run after her. All of his senses were on high alert. His whole body was telling him to latch onto her and to never let her go.

And when they were finally side by side in the street, he would glance over at her, anxious for just one more look at her face. He made a gamble with himself that she wouldn't notice. And he lost every time. He was rewarded with the teal swirl of her eyes meeting his own. He always willed her to look away first. And she never did. She never backed down. He always lost his nerve and looked away, before breaking out in a cold sweat. Yet, he always looked back. Making the same gamble with himself as before. Shikamaru decided he was a glutton for punishment. Or her eyes.

Her attention.

As they reached the house, she seemed to recognise where she was. Silently, she made her way over to the servant's entrance. It occurred to him that she was going back down to that ridiculously dark place. She could never survive down there, he mused. Not as she was now. Her whole being possessed so much light. She would suffocate from the dark down there.

Shikamaru felt so useless. He wasn't able to do anything to help her. To make anything any better. That was the reason why he wasn't sleeping. Not because she puzzled him, but because he wanted to make things better for her and had no idea how to do it.

"I want to help you," he blurted out as she opened the door.

She said nothing and continued walking inside. But she left the door open. He took that as an invitation.

Once he moved inside, he found her waiting, leaning against the wall.

With great strength he forced himself to face her. "I could help," he mumbled, pathetically. "I could get you things you need."

She turned and started walking towards her room. He almost tripped over his own feet when he attempted to follow her.

"Showers," she said mysteriously when she reached her destination, leaning up against the wall as she continued. "We have to take mixed showers. That is intolerable. I can tolerate it personally but some of the other women; they have husbands. Others merely have men they are in love with, like Hinata. They feel like they are breaking their marriage vows to strip in front of another man. They feel disgraced. It causes them a great deal of emotional stress. I hear that Hinata has not showered in weeks. She should not have to choose between her personal health and the man she loves," she finished determinedly.

"Of course," he choked out, amazed that this was even happening in the first place, "I'll speak to my dad. There is no way he will let this continue."

She nodded. "Thank you," she said quietly, gazing at him.

She turned to enter her room.

"Wait!" he said, reaching out to grab her fingers, and then berating himself for his forwardness. But she didn't pull away.

"I....if I do this.....I think that.....I should.......we should.....play shougi with me," he finally finished. Shikamaru was pretty sure he was blushing. The feeling of her skin on his was sending electric currents racing through his body, making it very difficult to think properly.

She nodded again. "Of course," she smiled. She still hadn't moved her hand.

He stood there gazing at her like some dumb idiot for a couple more seconds before he caught himself on.

"Right," he said in between coughs, "thanks."

She just smiled at him again.

Feeling that he should leave before his heart took over his brain's steering wheel and convinced him to kiss her, he extracted his hand from her tangled fingers and practically ran up to the main house.

* * *

Temari shut the door on her bedroom. She let out a huge sigh of breath as she lay down.

**Flashback**

"A boy has followed you here," Gaara said quietly.

"What?!" Temari said, inwardly grateful that she had the sense to whisper.

"A boy is standing on the side of the house, listening to every word we are saying."

Temari was facing away from the house so she couldn't turn around to glance. Seeming to sense her anxiousness, Gaara continued, "He has brown eyes, brown hair tied up in a high ponytail," he said stopping when comprehension made its way onto Temari's face.

"Nara Shikamaru," she whispered, "the boy from the house I'm living in."

"He has been gazing at you," Gaara said, giving her a meaningful look. "I have seen that gaze before Temari. He is looking at you the way Naruto looks at Hinata."

Temari said nothing.

"He could be a powerful tool," Gaara continued. "He would have connections to his father and his friends. You should try to....."

"Manipulate him?" Temari cut in. She was not too pleased with the idea. It would mean a lot of play-acting on her part.

"Make him think that you share his feelings," Gaara said, shaking his head. "It would be helpful to have someone you could turn to for your needs. I'm not asking you to do anything physical," Gaara continued, obviously noticing the look on Temari's face, "Just don't do anything to repel him. Keep him onside. If that means smiling at him every once in a while, then you should consider it a duty to your country."

Sighing, Temari nodded.

**End Flashback**

She had only smiled at him twice and already she felt like she had run a marathon. This was going to take it out of her. But at least now they would have separate showers. Gaara was right. If she could successfully wrap this boy around her finger, it might be the most useful service she could do to her country whilst she was stuck here.

And, if Gaara was to be believed, it would take very little to lure Nara Shikamaru in. In fact, from the blush on his face as she touched his fingers, it looked like he had already been caught.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys- apologies for the long wait- the short version of the story goes 'mum away, dad's house with crap computer that is not as good as my laptop'. I know- poor little me right?:P Either way, I wanted to wait until I could edit the story on my own comp- and yes this is an edit! the longest chapter so far- apologies for that but I couldn't bring myself to split it in two- it just felt right as it was. However, the chapters do get shorter from here on in! lol

Like I've said previously, another serious example of me taking it slow- I don't really feel that the plot is furthered much here, but again, this chapter just felt right here- so here it is!

Thanks so much for the reviews- I can't tell you how much they mean to me- but it's a whole lot! Hope you enjoy this chapter!:D

R&R pretty please! :D

I don't own Naruto

SP7

* * *

Shikaku groaned as he stretched out on his sofa. He wondered when his son had turned into one of those human rights activists that used to write to him daily. First the showers, then the beds, then the food and now the working hours. His son used to be lazy. What had happened to that? It wasn't exactly how he had envisioned Shikamaru to turn out but it was better than this.

He heard a knock at the door and decided that if it was Shikamaru he was going to shoot the boy before he heard the words, "they are people, dad, like everyone else," for the fortieth time this week.

"General Nara," a voice said. He recognised the voice to be that of Captain Hyuuga of the twenty-fifth Infantry.

"Yes, Captain?" he replied, sitting up. Shikaku felt no need to stand to attention in front of the boy even though he was currently giving his superior the salute. Hyuuga had seen him far more lax than this before. It would an unnecessary expense of energy to force himself to stand up.

Looking around he saw that he was joined by his partner, first lieutenant Tenten, who was also giving him the salute.

"We've come to give you the weekly patrol reports, General," Hyuuga said stiffly, though now standing at ease.

"Very well, Captain," Shikaku replied. "Bring them over here," he said ringing the bell for some tea.

Shikaku had only been looking through the reports for a couple of moments when the door opened and a small girl with blue-ish hair entered wheeling a small silver stand laden with tea. He recognised her to be the girl who had been so excited at Temari's arrival. He also remembered that Yoshino had trusted her enough to put her in charge of taking care of Shikamaru whilst he was sick. That was reassuring. He doubted she would have poisoned the tea.

"Sit down, Hyuuga," he said, gesturing to the seat in front of him. Tenten followed suite as they both made themselves passably comfortable on the chair. Shikaku noticed that no matter how comfortable Hyuuga tried to look; he always gave off the impression that someone was doing terrible things to him with a poker. He sighed. The army could be very tiring upon a person's nerves. Everyone was either a crazed psychopath or a stiff, humourless creation; resulting from hours of training.

The blue haired girl was busy pouring out the tea, but Shikaku noticed that she hadn't looked up once. He agreed with Shikamaru on this one. This girl looked so suppressed that it almost hurt. When he was trained, Shikaku was told to get rid of all emotion, all feelings of guilt that he might harbour about what he was doing. He made a point at that time to hold on to some of those feelings. He refused to become the tinned sardine that they wanted him to be. Now, he was wishing he had rid himself of those feelings because the guilt was overflowing and making it very hard to concentrate on the reports that he was supposed to be looking through.

Shikamaru thought that the reason that he was reluctant to talk about the conditions in the servant's quarters was because he was indifferent to the plight of the people down there. It was exactly the opposite. Shikaku was so far from indifferent to their conditions that if he heard one more time about how they went without food if there was a banquet in the main house or how they were forced to get up at all hours of the night if Yoshino was unsatisfied with the way that they had cleaned the house, he was going to set them all free.

Shikaku couldn't do that. It would have been considered an attack upon the Konohanian forces and an attempt to stop the progress of the war.

Shikaku sighed. He really wished the girl would look up every once in a while.

"It's okay," he said to the maid, "you can go on. I'll finish here."

The girl gave a slight bow and left.

When he had finished pouring the tea, he looked up to pass the soldiers their cups. Tenten looked exactly the same. She appeared to be studying the artwork in the room. As Shikaku attempted to pass a cup over to Hyuuga, he was astounded. He had never seen the boy display any other emotion than that of severe indifference to everything. The Captain was now displaying a look of extreme discomfort. Was this a crack in his armour that Shikaku had yet to see?

Hyuuga seemed to notice Shikaku staring and immediately corrected his expression. Thanking him for the tea, he took the cup and continued to sip quietly.

"My son should be in the drawing room if you wish to go see him, Captain," Shikaku said. There was no point in either of the soldiers staying with him to look through the reports. In all of the years that the two of them had been patrolling the streets of Konoha, they had never turned in a report that was anything less than perfection. Why should today be any different?

Both Hyuuga and Tenten nodded, before standing up.

"General," they said simultaneously, whilst giving him a salute.

Shikaku nodded at them and then looked back to his reports. Out of the corner of his eye he watched the pair make their way out of the room. Maybe he wasn't the only one who was so uncomfortable with the collection of slaves that each manor in Konoha had amassed. But, Shikaku thought, he had never expected the always emotionless Captain Hyuuga Neji, to be the one to share his feelings.

* * *

Shikamaru was feeling quite proud of himself as he made his way down to the servant's quarters. Temari had only asked for a handful of changes to the servant's working life, but he had been able to produce every one of them. Granted it was through annoying his father excessively, but nonetheless, he had done it.

Every time Shikamaru saw Temari she smiled at him, conversed with him for a little while and promised him a game of shougi. They had yet to actually have a game, due to the annoyingly long hours that Temari worked, but the promise was made all the same. He hoped they were growing closer. He knew his own attachment to her was starting to grow stronger.

He was dreaming of her......dreaming of them, together.

Yet, he had made himself stop thinking about Temari altogether due to the fact that every time he did he got butterflies in his stomach. It was bad enough that he was dreaming of her constantly, but now he felt as though he thought of nothing else. He was pulling himself too far and he knew it. Stretching himself between Konoha and Suna and each day the stretch was growing a little tighter, a little more constrained. He would snap at some point. It only made physical sense. But it was much more than just himself and Temari who would be affected by the break. It was his family;his life, his country. Why was he doing this to himself?

Unfortunately, Shikamaru found himself daydreaming more and more during Asuma's lessons. Well more than he usually did. Asuma would cough in a loud manner, grin and proceed to ask Shikamaru who "she" was. At this point, Shikamaru, quite sure he was blushing, would tell Asuma to mind his own business.

He felt like he was turning into a girl in one of those sappy romance novels that Ino read.

It was different if he was actually with Temari. Shikamaru had no idea why it was different but it just was. He was allowed to have those feelings if he was around her. Otherwise, he was going to have to learn to start acting like a man. If his mother caught him blushing, she would know something was up and would become relentless in her quest to know what it was that made him blush. That would be extremely troublesome indeed.

Pushing the door open to Temari's room, he was about to command her to face him across a shougi board when he was stopped by the sight in front of him.

Temari was sitting on her bed cradling a crying and an obviously quite distressed Hinata in her arms. As Temari looked up he found himself apologising for interrupting.

"It's okay, Shikamaru," Temari replied smiling slightly. There went the butterflies again. "Hinata's just a little upset, that's all," she continued, still hugging Hinata.

Hinata sniffed slighty and then extracted herself from Temari's arms.

"If you want me to work your shifts today, I will," Temari offered. Hinata shook her head.

"Oh come on," Temari said, tugging at Hinata's sleeve, "I don't really fancy gardening today anyways," she said, faking a plea. "I broke another vase," Temari said, in an answer to the look Shikamaru was giving her, "so I was moved," she said grinning.

Hinata nodded, "Thank you, Princess" she said quietly, whilst bowing slightly. She then began to make her way out of the room.

"I'll call in on you later," Temari called after the girl.

"Is she okay?" Shikamaru asked, shutting the door as he made his way fully into the room.

Temari nodded.

"What was wrong with her?" he prodded, settling himself on the bed beside Temari. It made him happy that she was comfortable enough with him to sit alone in her bedroom with him.

"I don't think you want to know," Temari said turning to face him and pulling her legs up underneath her. "It's about one of your army mates."

"They're not my mates," Shikamaru grumbled.

"Hinata's last name is Hyuuga," Temari said, looking at him meaningfully.

"Neji........."Shikamaru breathed.

"They're cousins," Temari continued. "Hinata tells me that when the family split due to the war, her and Neji remained on good terms; they wrote to each other weekly. But when the raids began, Neji joined the army with the intention of making sure that Hinata wasn't taken from Suna and placed in a brothel, like so many of our other women. When she was finally captured he used his influence to make sure that she was placed here, in a good household, where she wouldn't be harmed. But, he promised her that when he had made enough money he was going to come and take her away and bring her back to Suna where she could marry Uzumaki Naruto, the boy she was betrothed to. He promised that he was always going to be there to protect her."

"What happened?" Shikamaru asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"Some girl happened," Temari muttered crossly. "He's fallen in love with her and become completely brainwashed by her army propaganda. Apparently, he now believes that Konoha is in the right and the raids on Suna are a necessary part of the war. He's stopped all contact with Hinata because he believes that he would be disobeying army orders to even talk to a Sunan. Never mind the fact that he is one," she said under her breath.

"I can't believe Neji would do that," Shikamaru said disbelievingly. "I knew he was proud of being in the army but I never thought he would go this far," he continued feeling his anger grow. "Poor Hinata."

"Tch," Temari muttered, "she doesn't need him. The whole side of that family is a bunch of turncoats; I don't know why anyone was surprised," she fumed.

"Who's the girl?" Shikamaru asked, although he had a feeling he already knew.

"Some army lieutenant named Tenten," Temari said, with obvious disdain, "he walks around with her most of the time."

"I know who you mean," Shikamaru cut in.

"Well, Hinata saw him here today, anyhow. That's what's got her so upset," Temari grumbled.

"He's here?" Shikamaru asked, feeling his stomach sink. He preferred the butterflies.

"Apparently," Temari said. "Why?" she quizzed, "Is that a problem?"

"It means that my mother will come looking for me to talk to him," he groaned.

"So, I guess that means I will have to beat you at shougi another day," she said grinning at him.

Shikamaru smiled. He really was a sucker for that grin.

"Sure you will, woman," he said, grinning back at her. He turned to leave then stopped himself, "any more requests, whilst I'm down here?" he asked.

"Not that I can think of," Temari replied, standing up to face him, "I'll let you know though," she continued, still smiling at him. "Oh, and Shikamaru," she said, stopping him from leaving once more, "thank you, for everything," she continued, taking his hand.

"I-it-it's fine," he stuttered.

"You're cute when you blush," Temari said, smiling brightly.

"That's not a compliment...for a man," he managed, whilst he moved his free hand up to scratch the back of his head.

She chuckled. "No, I suppose it isn't," she said, letting go of his hand. "Doesn't make it any less true though," she said winking at him.

This woman was determined to kill him via a combination of smiles, winks and grins. He was just going to have to give in and ask Asuma how to handle women because he really had no clue. He knew how to ignore them and how to repel them. Somehow, when it came to Temari he could do neither of those two and resorted to blushing, stuttering and acting like a complete idiot. She was going to beat him at shougi easily this way, he mused.

"I have some free tomorrow afternoon, if you can manage it," he said, still not meeting her eyes.

"I'll try my best," she said. He was quite sure she was looking him directly in the eyes. "It's the least I can do, after everything you've done for me," she purred. Where in the hell did she learn to talk like that? He could feel his heart beating faster as she smirked at him. Nope, change of plans. Death by serious flirting was how he was going to go.

Self control, Shikamaru. Self control.

He was two seconds away from throwing her onto the bed and....

_Self control._

"Great," he said pulling at the collar of his t-shirt, pushing _those _particular thoughts out of his head. "I'll look forward to it," he said as normally as possible.

"Me too," she said, still smirking at him. She just wasn't going to let him get out of this with some part of his pride in tact was she?

"So, tomorrow then," he said, a little more confidently. It had just occurred to him that she was the one doing all the flirting. At least he thought it was flirting. That was something, he thought. He found it very hard to believe that someone like her could ever even think about someone like him that way. Especially in her current position. And she had a boyfriend. But, she was still gazing at him in a way that made him think differently. And he didn't want her to stop.

"Tomorrow it is," she nodded. He made his way out of the room.

"Oh, Nara," she called after him. "I've thought of something," she said, grinning. He made his way back to her doorway.

"What is it this time, troublesome woman?" he said, smiling back at her. This was more comfortable ground for him.

Temari moved forward to his body, and put her hand up behind his head, pressing her curves flush against him. As she began twirling the smaller pieces of his hair between her fingers, she moved her mouth up to his ear. "When you see Hyuuga Neji," she said breathily, "beat the shit out of him for me, would you?"

Shikamaru swallowed, finding he was glued to the spot; the feeling of her body against him and her hot breath in his ear addling his brain. He responded by nodding.

_SELF CONTROL. _

"Thanks," she breathed, still waiting by his ear. "You're the best," she purred again, before moving herself away from his body.

Shikamaru nodded quickly again, avoided looking at her, and decided to make his way up to his bedroom to attempt to will his face to return to its normal shade.

* * *

On his way back up through the main house, Shikamaru remembered that Neji was in the house. It was funny how Temari had the ability to clear his mind completely of competent............._thoughts_.

Feeling his stomach sink at the thought of a meeting with Neji, now knowing what he did, Shikamaru gave in to the he would have to go and talk to Neji, or his mother would come find him and make him talk to Neji. The former option did not include his mother and was therefore the lesser of two evils.

Neji would have been sent straight to the drawing room. It was apparently the only room in the house that Shikamaru could talk to people in. Trudging over to the door, Shikamaru took a deep breath before he entered.

"Shikamaru!"Ino squealed. Did she have to insist upon screaming every time he entered a room? It was like an alarm bell screaming at him, telling him to get the hell away from wherever he was. Ugh. He had forgotten that another luncheon with Ino had been scheduled.

Ino was seated on her usual chair with Neji and Tenten, side by side, facing opposite her on another chair. Shikamaru looked around to find that all three heads were staring at him. As he resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to sit beside Ino as all the other chairs were taken, he observed Neji giving him a curt nod.

Clearing his throat by way of response, Shikamaru seated himself beside Ino.

"I've just been telling Tenten and Neji all about the wedding, dearest," Ino said, in a sickly sweet tone. It was the tone of someone who was attempting to make conversation. She had two chances in this atmosphere; nil and none.

"Do you want to see my wedding dress, Tenten?" Ino said brightly, passing the lieutenant a photograph. "Make sure Shikamaru doesn't see, darling!" she finished, practically falling over in the attempt to give Tenten the photo, who hadn't moved an inch.

Looking extremely disinterested, Tenten surveyed the photo briefly before glancing up at Ino and giving her a slight smile. As she passed the photo back, Ino smiled cheerily at her and rang the bell for tea.

An awkward silence settled on the room. As Shikamaru continued to survey the pink walls he hated so much, he was pretty sure that Neji's eyes were ripping through him. Sick of the tension, Shikamaru turned to look at the soldier. Meeting him eye to eye, Shikamaru could feel his own gaze getting more and more defiant. Neji's ideas of propriety and social standing were too great for him to sacrifice them for the sake of a fight. But that didn't mean that Shikamaru was going to let him think that he was running away. If the Captain had something to say, he was just going to have to say it, regardless of who else was in the room.

"How are you, Nara?" Neji asked, his voice clearly strained.

"The same," Shikamaru responded flatly. "You?"

Neji did not respond. He had obviously recognised the game that Shikamaru was playing. Shikamaru observed him turn his head to look out the window.

Shikamaru heard Ino clear her throat nervously. "Where is that tea?" she asked, voice shaking slightly. "The little blue haired girl who usually brings it is generally so prompt," she continued.

Shikamaru did not move his eyes from Neji. He saw the soldier's face harden at the mention of his cousin. Eyes narrowed, Neji turned to face him. The atmosphere was beyond tense.

"Yes, she is," Shikamaru replied to Ino, eyes still never moving from Neji, "she's been trained well, that girl. And to think we get her for free."

It was catty. He knew it. It was exactly the type of thing he would have heard from Ino if she had been in his place. But he was past caring. If Hyuuga thought that he could just swan into this house and allow Hinata to wait on him hand and foot without anything on his conscience, he had another think coming.

Instead, it was Tenten, and not Neji, who responded.

Standing up quickly, the brunette glared Shikamaru square in the face, "I think we should go, Neji," she said pointedly.

The girl barely had a chance to finish her sentence before Neji cut in on top of her. "Sit down," he snarled at his comrade, still looking Shikamaru straight in the face.

Face flushed, Tenten let out a short burst of air through her nostrils and proceeded to sit down slowly.

Laughing nervously, Ino leant across the table to Neji, "Tell me, Captain. What _do_ you wash your hair with? It's simply divine!"

* * *

Temari groaned as she heard the bell ring. That meant tea. And she had taken over for Hinata, whose usual duties included the hot refreshment. Temari had never made tea in her life. It was more of a Konohanian drink. People in Suna weren't that fond of hot drinks, due to the climate.

Making her way to the kitchen, her attitude cheered slightly as she saw that the trolley was laid out already. Taking the silver instrument with two hands she wheeled it up corridor and into the main house. She surveyed the condiments and frowned slightly at the presence of sugar. Wasn't tea supposed to be bitter? Why on earth would anyone put sugar in it?

Seeing a small card with '_drawing room'_ scrawled onto it, she concluded that that was where she was supposed to take the tray.

Pushing the door open to said room, Temari had to suppress the urge not to laugh. Shikamaru was seated on the couch, looking absolutely livid. Temari knew she had only known the boy for a few days but not once had she ever seen him display any other emotion than that of....well.....nothing, except for the slight blush he got whenever they touched. Yet compared to that, this was a tsunami to a trickle of water.

Searching for the source of his annoyance, Temari felt her own expression harden. Of course, she thought. He would still be here. She had already poisoned food with little consequence. Would she be whipped for pouring scalding hot tea all over a guest?

Wheeling the tray over to the group, she heard the blonde girl cough unhappily.

"So they sent you instead of the normal girl?" she stated, as all heads in the room snapped towards Temari. "They should have just sent the chimney sweep. He would have been more polite, no doubt," she concluded cattily.

Temari couldn't deny the small bubbles that grew in her stomach when she saw Shikamaru's expression lighten just by looking at her. Feeling a blush coming on, she berated herself inwardly for the uncontrollable response. She was supposed to be making him blush, not the other way around!

Choosing not to respond, Temari began to set out separate cups. As she worked, silence reigned. She noticed that neither Neji nor Tenten were now looking at her. She chuckled inwardly. That had been a fun night.

Pouring out the tea, she heard the blonde shriek. "No, no! You silly girl! Leave room for the milk!"

Sighing slightly, Temari picked up the cup and drank straight from it, looking upwards as she did. Setting the cup down, she noted with satisfaction the extremely large smirk on Shikamaru's face; the gobsmacked look Miss Priss was giving her; the murderous intent present on Tenten's countenance and the sardonic look that had found its way onto Neji's visage.

Filling the cup to the brim with milk, Temari then proceeded to add at least four heaped spoonfuls of sugar, a lemon slice and a large sprig of mint. Pushing the cup towards Ino, Temari heard Shikamaru snort in laughter. He tried to hide it by turning his head towards the door, but the fact that his shoulders were shaking visibly gave him away.

Temari felt a weird sensation in her stomach as she noted Neji staring at Shikamaru oddly. Almost with a look of curiosity on his face. That wasn't a good sign.

Her reverie was broken when she heard the blonde shriek again. She was obviously ignoring her. "Oh Shikamaru! Did you see the _wonderful_ pearls your mother gave me to wear at the wedding?" The girl extracted a blue velvet box from her handbag and continued to prattle on, "They're vintage. _And_ there are diamonds in between each link! I doubt there's another set like them in Konoha!" she said excitedly, as she opened the box and proceeded to display the necklace to the whole party.

Temari felt sick. She couldn't move. As she felt tears lace her eyes, she tried to swallow and found she couldn't. They were the first thing to go when the soldier's took the palace. All of her mother's jewellery had been looted. Everything. The diamonds that had graced her mother's neck during each royal engagement; the ruby wedding ring that she displayed on her left hand every day since her wedding day; and the pearls that had been gifted to her by Temari's grandmother. The pearls that were supposed to come to Temari on her twenty-first birthday. Inhaling a large breath, Temari swallowed, this time successfully. Vintage? she thought. Those pearls were antiques. Stupid blonde.

It was stupid that the first thing that would make her regret the loss of her old life would be a set of pearls. Since the attack Temari hadn't missed her old life once. She hadn't let herself. Not when she was forced to kill animals for food, not when she had had to use a bloodied soldier's jacket for a coat. Not even when she hadn't washed for months and was forced to spitting on herself just to remember what her natural skin colour was. Now, faced with the one thing her mother had ever wanted her to have, she finally felt grief set in.

Sighing heavily, she gathered her nerves. She could grieve later. She would think about her mother tomorrow. What use would she be to her people if she became a shivering wreck?

Turning back to the tray, she noticed that Shikamaru was looking at her; concern etched on his face. She gave him what she hoped was a steady smile, and continued to pour. After she had finished, Temari took the tray and wheeled it out of the room. Leaving it back down to the kitchen, she observed the rat poison- now locked in a cupboard. How stupid had she been? This whole fight was so much bigger than slavery. If she knew Gaara as she thought she did, he wasn't going to give up without a fight. But they were taking on the whole of the Konohanian army as well of a group of angry, armed bandits. As the first feelings of despair set in, Temari wondered, how in God's name, they were ever going to beat them.

* * *

There was no way this was going to get any better, Shikamaru thought. The atmosphere in here was unbearable. Temari's concoction of tea, whilst hilarious, was completely undrinkable, and he was anxious to talk to her. Those pearls had obviously upset her and he wanted to talk to her about it. Yet here he was, stuck with three people he'd rather not converse with and having to endure Ino's wedding talk.

Sighing aloud, he made up his mind. Without another word he stood up and walked out the door. Looking around the hallway, he searched for Temari but found the space to be empty. As he walked towards the servant's quarters he heard a voice call after him.

"Nara," came Neji's voice, assured and strong.

Shikamaru turned to face the soldier, attempting to put on his poker face.

"This is all rather childish, don't you think?" the Captain continued. "I kill people. You disagree. Running away will not solve anything," Neji finished, staring him straight in the face.

"Who's running?" Shikamaru shot back.

Neji sighed aloud. He looked tired, Shikamaru noted. Worn. Almost like his father.

Deciding that his wasn't going anywhere, Shikamaru turned on his heel and proceeded to walk away.

"You need to remember where your loyalties lie, Shikamaru," Neji said loudly. When Shikamaru had stopped and marched right back up to him, Neji continued, "You need to choose a side and choose it quickly- the war won't wait for you."

Neji paused, clearly studying the look on Shikamaru's face, "I see the way you look at that girl, Nara. It's plain as day."

"Why, because it's the way you look at Tenten?" Shikamaru snapped, feeling himself getting angrier. If he was going to bring Temari into this all bets were off. Seeing he had shocked the soldier, Shikamaru proceeded to step closer to him. "And you have some gall to talk to me about loyalty, _Hyuuga_," he spat out, glaring Neji in the eyes.

Neji's expression hardened. "Watch your mouth, Nara," he said dangerously, "You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Oh, I think I do," Shikamaru growled in response, "we are talking about how you abandoned your family for a piece of............."

"Don't you dare," Neji cut in, stepping closer to Shikamaru. They were now barely an inch apart. A tense silence reigned before Neji spoke, "From what I can see, you are doing exactly the same thing," he shot out.

Shikamaru's self control snapped. Seizing Neji by the collar, he hauled him straight up to his face. "You are a murdering bastard, who has turned his back on his country and his family purely for the sake of some girl. _Don't_ you dare compare yourself to me. You are less than a gutter rat, Hyuuga."

Letting go of Neji's collar, he shoved the soldier backwards towards the front door.

Straightening his uniform, Neji took a few steps towards Shikamaru. "You're engaged to be married, Nara. She is from Suna. A Princess. What makes you think she would even look twice at some Konohanian coward who can't even say no to his own mother. I know her. Better than you do. You won't be who she chooses. She will choose a man. Not a boy," he finished, looking Shikamaru dead in the eye.

Making his way over to the drawing room, Neji paused briefly, still facing away from Shikamaru. "I carry a weapon on me at all times Nara. If it were not for the fact that you spend most of your life hiding behind your father, I would have shot you on the spot. Put your hands on me again; you die," Neji snarled, before opening the door and entering.

Still breathing heavily from the encounter, Shikamaru made his way over to the stairwell and sunk down onto one of the steps. Putting his head in his hands, Shikamaru willed his brain to think straight. He was not doing the same thing as Neji, he thought firmly. Neji was being selfish. Temari actually needed help. She couldn't do everything on her own. Temari was protecting her whole country. Who did she have to protect her?

But a part of what Neji had said was eating away at Shikamaru's resolve. He was digging himself in deeper and deeper by spending time with the Princess. He couldn't deny that some part of him hoped that she felt something for him. And for what? For him to go off and marry someone else. That was idiotic. The logical decision was to give it up. Let her go.

No! he heard his inner voice yell. The thought of actually letting her go; never talking to her again, watching her work each day and knowing that he was refusing to help her, it made him want to vomit. If he was giving up anything it was this stupid, useless existence that he had been living. Maybe he was doing exactly what Neji was. But this was different. It had to be.

He turned his head, as he heard a door open and shut again. His eyes widened as he saw Temari pushing another tea tray laden with a fresh pot towards his father's study. Running down the stairs he called after her, hoping to catch her before she entered. Temari stopped to turn towards him, giving him another weak smile.

Reaching her, he looked at her. Her eyes were slightly red around the rims but they were as beautiful as ever. Yes, he thought as he gazed at her. This was definitely different.

"Those pearls," he started breathlessly, "were they...."

"My mother's? Yes," Temari cut in on top of him, studying the tray.

"I'm getting them back for you," he said determinately.

She looked at him, eyes slightly widened, before shaking her head and returning her gaze to the tray. "You don't have to do that, Shikamaru," she said quietly, "they're not important. Not on the scale of things. We still need other things that are...."

"Hey!" he said, taking her by the shoulders. He was surprised by his own forwardness. "It's important to you, so it's important to me," Shikamaru continued, smiling at her slightly. Chuckling at her almost shocked expression, he raised his hand to brush her cheek, "I'd do anything for you, Temari," he said softly.

She moved her eyes away from his gaze, looking downwards, yet he still hadn't moved his hand.

"Thank you," she whispered, before looking at him again.

He picked up her hand with his own and kissed it, "No problem, Princess," he said with a grin on his face. She laughed slightly, squeezing his hand within hers.

"I have to...." she trailed off, gesturing to the tray.

"Yea," he nodded in response, still gazing at her.

As she made her way into the room, Shikamaru felt his heart beat contentedly. He didn't care if Hyuuga thought he was a hypocrite. This felt right. He would show him how much of a man he could be. At some point, Temari was going to make a break for it, and when she did, he was going with her.

This was it, Shikamaru decided. He was choosing a side. And he was choosing Suna.


	9. Chapter 9

Told you the chapters were going to get shorter! lol

Sorry for the long update on this one but I've been re-working this story in my head for the past week and it's been driving me crazy. I've finally decided on a direction, so here is the update! The new direction is definitely a lot longer than the last one but I've a feeling it's going to be worth it.

Apologies also, for I can't lie, but i've been delving into the work of Harry Potter fanfic- due to the movie- and have gotten completely addicted. But I do have to say, reading the stories, Naruto writers as soooooo much better! lol And review way more than any HP reviewers- so thank you so much for that!

Now that I know where I'm going, the next update should be up quickly!

Hope you enjoy!:D R & R plz!!!

I don't own Naruto

SP7

* * *

Temari lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

_Waiting_ was frustrating.

_Waiting_ for Gaara to act was maddening- especially when she had no idea what he might have even been plotting.

_Waiting_ for Gaara to act whilst simultaneously flirting with a seventeen year old boy was infuriating.

No part of her normal persona encompassed the ability to flirt. She had seen her mother do it many times before; how she twisted the various politicians and reporters around her finger with a small smile or flash of her eyes. Temari could never be that graceful. She was more like her father in that respect. If she wanted something from somebody, she beat them until she got it. "No tact," as Gaara had said.

But waiting for Gaara to act whilst simultaneously flirting with a seventeen year old boy who was also being exceptionally nice to her was....gut wrenching. Not who she was. Temari was not cruel. However much she loved her country, she could not deny the twisting sensation that planted itself in her stomach whenever she saw his eyes light up every time she smiled at him. At first, it had been satisfying. The plan was working. But then that stupid kid had to go and make it personal.

**Flashback**

"I was expecting an interesting game," Temari began smirking, after the first few trivial moves had been made across the shougi board. "I thought you said you were good," she finished, noting the fact that he hadn't grinned back as she expected him to do.

They had settled into a routine, she noticed. He would begin with a remark, she would retort sarcastically, he would call her troublesome, she'd find some way of making bodily contact with him and he'd blush. After a week, it had become natural to her. He fitted into her 'slave survival programme' quite nicely. Nothing too strenuous. A bit of a break if she was honest with herself. Not quite a rest, but more like a relief. A relief that she was _doing _something, anything to help Suna.

"It's hot out today," he commented idly, after a silence had set in.

"Then take off your jacket," Temari responded studying the board, equally as despondent. It _was_ hot out and her dress was itching. She had a feeling that she didn't have the energy for the routine today.

She looked up finally as he drew the zip down from his neck-high jacket. And she burst out laughing.

"What?" he said, eyes wide and trying to hide his smile. "You don't like my necklace?" Shikamaru continued, fingering the pearls around his neck, "I hear it's vintage," he said, smirking at her.

Her laughter continued as she attempted not to look too gratified. The opposite of how she was feeling.

"You can't pull it off," Temari replied, wondering why she had let him take control today. She was supposed to smirk at him. To make him blush and laugh. This routine was different. New. And extremely unsettling.

She looked back up to find that he was now standing and moving behind her. She stood up and attempted to turn around to face him. Shikamaru standing behind her made her nervous for some reason.

"Wait," he said quietly, as she heard the jangle of the baubles behind her. She started slightly when his hands came down the side of her face, placing the pearls around her neck. The slight click of the clasp told her that he had finished. She didn't want to move. If she turned to face him, she would have to do something; say something to him that was designed to make him think she reciprocated his feelings. After he had done this for her. What kind of emotionless monster would she have to be to do that?

_This_ was why Temari wasn't deigned heir to the throne. Gaara would have had no problem pulling this off. Staying detached. Why did she even care what this boy thought? Little rich kid, who's whole life had been beautifully constructed for him. But then again, before the war she had been exactly the same.

_This_ had gone too far. This game, if you could call it that. Pulling herself between her emotions and her plan. She had started to care. That wasn't supposed to happen. And it wasn't going to happen any longer.

His breathing had become uneven. And she could hear him fidgeting and moving from foot to foot.

"What's wrong?" she asked, not sure that she wanted to know the answer. She was having trouble formulating a new plan.

Think, Temari, think.

"I," he mumbled, before coughing to clear his throat, "I think I've fallen in love with you."

That should have been exactly what she wanted to hear.

Think, just...................

"That was a very stupid thing to do," she replied, her voice dry in her throat.

He remained silent.

Temari walked away.

Shit.

**End Flashback**

Who the hell did this kid thing he was?! Saying things like that to her. As if she had time for love! She was a _slave _for God's sake! What a moronic thing to say.

Well, no. The moronic thing in this situation was her. She should've at least tried to act flattered. And she had ran. She had bolted away from his as fast as she could.

Her cover was blown anyway. In all honesty she felt like a criminal. 'Take the pearls and run, Temari. The kid won't notice that you've all but completely rejected him.'

She looked down at her fingernails, bitten away to the quick and she showed no signs of slowing down. Her childhood tutor would have had a heart attack. Princesses don't bite their nails.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

What the hell was she going to do now? Ignore him? Act as if she hadn't.......

Temari felt her heart pound against her chest as the ground shook. She heard an earthy boom in the distance and something that vaguely recalled rain.

Stay calm, she thought to herself. It didn't mean _anything. _

Another boom vibrated the walls, whilst her bed shook slightly.

Temari could feel her hands starting to jitter. Her feet were beginning to twitch. It was her instinct to run whenever that boom made its presence known.

'It doesn't mean anything,' she affirmed out loud to herself, tucking the pearls into her dress.

A third boom sounded, closer this time.

"Fuck," she growled, her heart pounding against her chest, throwing herself from the bed.

Fists clenched, Temari threw the door to her room open and ran as fast as she could. She tripped and fell as fourth boom made the whole house shake.

"It's okay, it's okay," she whispered to herself, picking her body off the ground, willing it not to shake so badly that she couldn't run.

Finding the door she was looking for, she slammed her foot into the base of it and watched as it swung open.

Hinata was sitting up in bed; the covers were pulled up around her body which was shaking visibly, and her eyes were squeezed shut as tears made their way down her face.

"Hinata," Temari whispered urgently, making her way over to the distraught girl. "Hinata, we've got to go _now_," she continued, pulling at the bed covers.

The blue haired girl responded by shaking her head rapidly.

"Hinata," Temari pressed, "come on. We can't stay here. You've got to move," she finished, attempting to pry the sheets from the girl's clenched hands.

Hinata did not move.

Temari sighed. She did not want to do this but in the circumstances it was all she could do. At least this she could do well.

"Hinata," Temari said loudly, "I am your Princess and I am telling you to move NOW," she said with an authority that only royalty knew.

Hinata squeaked, eyes widened as she stared at Temari, still crying but obviously too scared to move.

"Christ!" Temari grumbled, as she grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her out of the bed. As she pulled her out of the bedroom and along the corridor she could hear Hinata's crying getting louder. Temari knew why too. They were moving towards the commotion which was only growing louder the closer they got to the back door.

A loud boom that made the whole corridor shake resulted in pieces of the walls pouring down around Temari and Hinata's heads.

Trying to forge ahead, Temari found that she couldn't. Hinata was rooted to the spot and firmly refusing to move. Her eyes were widened and she was shaking so badly that Temari was surprised that she was still standing.

"Hinata," she whispered desperately, "Hinata, _please_. We can't stay here."

Still tugging on the girl's sleeves, Temari felt her whole stomach lurch as the loudest boom yet sounded. Hinata screamed a little as the walls continued to shake and dismantle around them. Temari could hear the rest of the slaves moving around in their rooms. Some had opened their doors and were trying to open the door to the main house.

"Hinata," Temari said, now trembling herself, "Hinata, everything's going to be fine. I promise you. When we get out there just _don't let go._ Okay? I'm going to take care of you, but we have to move _now_," she concluded, as she felt Hinata link hands with her.

Attempting to give the girl what she felt was a reassuring look, even though her insides were churning rapidly, Temari firmly grasped Hinata's hand and pulled her towards the door.

The back door swung open from the weight of Temari's foot and plunged both herself and Hinata into moonlight. Glancing briefly up at the sky as they ran, Temari could see different streaks of grey smoke wafting their way into the stars. It had almost been six months since she had seen smoke like that. But it meant only one thing to her. And from the way Hinata was crushing the bones in Temari's hands, she could tell it meant the same to her.

Bombs.

Bombs which were coming in thick and fast.

From where, Temari didn't know. Nor did she know how. But she knew that the last time she heard that sound and stayed where she was, a building had collapsed on top of her, crushing her arms and knocking her unconscious. Temari was not making that same mistake again. And she knew Gaara wouldn't be either.

As they ran into the main street, Temari heard Hinata gasp at the sight in front of them. The street was in flames, turning the air around them orange and red, and making the heat unbearable.

The fire was fuelled by pieces of buildings that had shattered and fallen to the roadside. Choking on the smoke, Temari felt the fire's heat move towards her, and decided that they couldn't stay there. No matter how badly she wanted to find Gaara.

She pulled Hinata towards the main gate, and instantly felt relief as the air cooled around them. As they continued into the forest, Temari heard Hinata crying.

"It's okay," Temari whispered as she pretended she was talking to Hinata. "It's all going to be okay."

* * *

"Nara," came Neji's firm voice, as Shikamaru stared, transfixed at the figures making their way towards the pair.

"Nara, if you want to live, I am telling you to pick up the goddamn gun, you understand?" Neji finished quietly, pulling his own rifle off of his back.

Shikamaru bent down to pick the rifle off of the dusty ground, feeling his heart thumping against his chest as the heat from the flames engulfed them.

"Now," Neji continued quietly, "do you know how to fire it?" he asked, as the forms in front of them, clad in black with red clouds, surrounded both Neji and himself.


	10. Chapter 10

Bonjour mon amie!:D

Just a quick note- I realise that this chapter will probably raise a lot of questions- the end of it anyways- and I assure you they will all be answered in the next chapter, in that I am being purposely vague. Mwa ha ha!:P It was that or either have the chapter be 8,000 words long- and I promised you no more of that, so vagueness prevails :)

The lyric below is from a song by General Fiasco called Something, Sometime. Awesome song, awesome band _(not just because they're local :P)_ and random though it may seem this lyric really inspired this chapter, lol. Good luck to everyone trying to figure it out :P

Thanks in advance to everyone who reviews- as always it makes my brain buzz quite happily :D

This chapter is dedicated to _Little ( **though not at all vertically challenged**__) __Pyromaniac Fangirl_'s kitten

I do not own Naruto or any oxymoron by W.B. Yeats- gotta love ole Yeatsy- hopefully someone finds it- i'm not looking at anyone *cough* Sand-Jounin-Temari ;)

SP7 :D

* * *

_She says, "I'm blind but I'm fine, but maybe we don't get out much? __But does is show? _

_Maybe we should give it loads, maybe we should give it loads. _

_Talks only talk 'less you're following through, __You're making plans and demands, but clearly you don't get out much. _

_And yes it shows. Maybe we should give it loads, maybe we should give it loads. _

_Nothing is a reason that seems to keep you satisfied. _

* * *

When she was younger, Temari used to despise the desert. There were many reasons for her dislike of the terrain but above all it was the heat.

As a child, the heat had made her ill. From her birth until she was eight years old, months flew past her where she would lie in a sweat soaked bed, delirious from the temperature. She had felt like she was suffocating, like someone was sitting on top of her chest crushing the air out of her bit by bit.

It was a mystery to all her doctors and nurses, who felt that she should have been acclimatised, being born in the desert, but still Temari's body refused to adjust, screaming out for relief. Every pore on her skin oozed sweat. Every bead of saliva on her tongue evaporated as quickly as it came, leaving her mouth as dry and deserted as the place she called home.

The desert was trying to kill her.

That was what she had thought at the time. She used to whimper that phrase to her mother. It was the delirium that made her say it, but even as a teenager she still wondered how the sparse land had not yet claimed her life.

She was told that she was saved because of who she was. The Gods had spared the Princess. Temari had always thought that was an absurdity. The desert had spared her. Had given up the battle. For now.

As she grew, she found more reasons to dislike her homeland.

The Sunese desert- as it was known before her forefathers had created a nation from it- was formed from rain shadows which in turn were caused by the fact that Suna had high mountains ranges both to the East and West of the region which prevented precipitation clouds from entering the area. In short, Suna was surrounded by mountains; closed off from the rest of the world. Most deserts received less than ten inches of water per year. Suna received none.

She had learned from her tutors that the land, before the creation of artificial oases was extremely volatile. Several enthusiastic explorers had died trying to discover the desert before finally her ancestors conquered the land and "made water". That was how royalty came to her. Through the fact that several groups of villagers moved to Suna, learning of the water, and named her family Royalty.

Temari always looked upon that fact as barbaric. She had no more God given right to rule than the rest of the people that lived in Suna. It was a joke. The idea that the desert bowed down before her family. A complete farce. How anyone had yet to recognise it, Temari couldn't fathom.

It was the isolation that killed her the most. Being the first born and a girl, Temari was refused association with other children. Her constant battles with the climate made her look ill and weak; as if she would die the moment she came into contact with someone other than her nurses. She hadn't even been allowed to meet her younger brother until he was four in case she might 'infect' him and had been separated from her mother for nine months during the pregnancy for fear that she would contaminate the baby's growth.

Her father never visited her either way. The only recollection she had of him as a child, was the time the doctors actually thought she might die and had called her parents in to be there for the final moments. As it turned out, it was just a particularly bad fit of delirium. She didn't see her father after that until she was ten.

When she was eleven, Temari had been told by her tutor of the places that existed outside of Suna. The countries, the oceans, the cultures; the people. Looking out of her bedroom window she looked for the oceans, but all she found was sand. She strained to see the different countries but all she saw was mountains. This land; this desert. It had isolated her from the rest of the world. Trapped her in this palace, this life.

She hated the desert for that.

She had often told herself that if she ever got out of Suna, she was never coming back. The desert didn't want her there and she didn't want to be there.

If someone had told her ten years ago that she would be praying to see sand dunes, she would have laughed in their face.

Temari was never religious but now, as she pulled Hinata through the rocks and rubble, she was praying. To who, she had no idea. But right now Temari was begging the heavens for noise. Any kind of rumble that would tell her.................

It was like orchestration to her ears. The humming of the sand dunes. The noise made her whole body ease with happiness. She could feel the air becoming hotter and the first few grains of sand drifting over her face.

"Hinata," she said quietly, "we're home."

* * *

Shikamaru opened his eyes and desperately tried to steady his vision. He didn't know why but every feeling in his body was telling him that he was in danger and needed to get the hell away from wherever he was.

He felt a hand press down on his forehead and a voice say, "How are you feeling?"

On closer inspection, the voice was coming from the girl that was constantly with Neji. He was trying to sit up but she wouldn't let him.

"You got hit quite badly," she told him. "You should lie down for now."

Looking around him he could see that he was in the army barracks. The maps of the region and artillery told him that much. Yet as far as he could see, he and the girl were the only ones in the room.

Trying desperately to think, he felt his head pang sharply as the memories came flooding back to him.

The bombs.....

The flames......

The guns...........

"Neji!" he called out, pushing past the girl and forcing his body to stand.

He stumbled gracelessly to the room adjacent to the one he was occupying and searched for the long haired boy.

"Where is he?!" he frantically questioned his army partner, who sat on the edge of the bed chuckling. For what reason, Shikamaru had no idea. Wasn't she supposed to be in love with Neji? He could be dead and she sits there laughing!

"He thinks you hate him" she said, staring disbelievingly at Shikamaru.

Stopping breathlessly in his tracks, Shikamaru eyed the lieutenant.

"Just because I don't agree with what he does, doesn't mean I want him dead," Shikamaru replied, feeling slightly ashamed. He had let his temper get the better of him that day. Even if they didn't talk anymore, Neji was still the closest thing Shikamaru had ever had to a friend. Well, except for Chouji. But................ that was a long time ago.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that he's fine. He's just informing your father of the situation," the brunette said, finally taking her eyes off Shikamaru. Making her way over to the wooden table at the centre of the room, she bent herself over a map and started tracing routes with her finger.

"What situation?" Shikamaru questioned, slightly more aggressively than he should have. Ever since he had been around army officers, getting them to answer questions was like pulling teeth and he had a feeling that this girl was going to be more difficult than the others.

Tilting her head towards Shikamaru, she narrowed her eyes at him and let out a long breath.

"Classified," she said simply, before returning to the map.

Shikamaru groaned inwardly. Of course she was going to be this way. This was going to be difficult.

"Look," Shikamaru started tiredly, his head still panging regularly, "I don't have any ulterior motives, I just want to...."

"Oh really?" the girl asked incredulously, finally standing up straight to face Shikamaru, "because last time I checked you were about ready to follow your little blonde Princess over the border and off to Suna," she continued loudly. "I heard what you said to Neji and as far as I'm concerned, you are no more trustworthy than those Sunan bastards who caused so much trouble last night."

Shikamaru couldn't find any way to answer her back as his brain was busy trying to process everything that she had said. Gazing intently into the eyes of the soldier, he could see the beginnings of doubt. She had said something that she hadn't meant to.

"Where is she?" Shikamaru questioned quietly. Temari hadn't even entered his head until the girl had mentioned her. He felt a pang in his stomach. He had been trying not to think about her. As the memories of what he had said to her.....how she had reacted.....flitted back into his mind, Shikamaru felt another pang.

He should have gone straight to her when he heard the bombs going off. He had told himself that he was going to protect her and instead he had ran straight to his father and when he had finally gotten to her room she had been gone.

What if she hadn't made it? What if...........

"That is none of your............."the girl began before being cut off by another voice.

"From what we can tell, she has fled to Suna," Neji said, striding confidently across the room and seating himself behind the desk. Setting a large paper folder down on the surface, he opened the files and began to study them.

"How are you?" Neji asked, never lifting his eyes from the papers in front of him.

"Alive," Shikamaru mumbled.

A tense silence settled in, as Shikamaru felt the girl glaring at him.

"Stop it," he heard Neji say quietly, still not looking up. The girl proceeded to expel a large amount of air through her nostrils and made her way over to the corner of the room, where she sat down and began to stare out of the window.

Feeling slightly responsible for whatever internal argument the two soldiers were now having, Shikamaru tried to think of some way to break the tension.

"Look, Neji, I'm sorry," he addressed the captain.

"You did nothing to apologise for, Nara," Neji said, cutting through him, sounding half distracted by his own thoughts. "The mistake was entirely mine. I gave you, a civilian, a rifle and expected you to protect yourself. It was an idiotic notion and could have cost us both our lives. As it was, we were fortunate, despite my own stupidity."

Shikamaru, still trying to think clearly, felt hundreds of questions settle in and was about to begin to voice some of them when Neji finally pushed the files to side of the desk and turned in his chair to face him.

"We were surrounded by five members of what we now know to be the Akatsuki, a group of paramilitaries from Suna, who last night bombed six of Konoha's foreign Embassy's along with two court houses and attempted a failed attack upon the parliament buildings," Neji began, staring at Shikamaru seriously. "You may remember me trying to get you to fire a rifle, despite your own resistance. During what I can only assume was your own confusion at attempting to work the weapon, a member of the group managed to beat you over the head with his own firearm, knocking you out cold."

"Then how did I...." Shikamaru began to ask, suddenly feeling extremely nervous.

"We managed to get away," Neji answered simply, beginning to root through the desk drawers.

"Yes, only because you _shot_ three of them!" the girl interjected loudly, standing up and starting to glare at Shikamaru again.

"Tenten!" Neji snapped angrily, shocking Shikamaru. It was the first time Shikamaru had ever heard Neji sound genuinely angry.

"What?!" Tenten shot back just as loudly as before. "It's true! Does this prat over here even have _any _IDEA how stupid that was?! They could have killed you and you would have died protecting his ungrateful ass!" she finished, breathing heavily and red in the face.

Feeling Neji beginning to retort, Shikamaru cut in front of him.

"It's alright, Neji," he said, sighing. "She's right. I was reckless running around town like that looking for.....and it could've ended with you dead. She has every right to be furious," he finished, moving over to sit down on the bed again.

"From what we can tell, she's fine, Nara," Neji said, finding what he was looking for in the drawer and moving over to Shikamaru, who didn't need to ask who Neji was talking about. "There's no blood in any of her tracks which are continuous. There's no reason to believe that she is harmed," he continued, placing the object in front of Shikamaru's eye line.

"I'd say she'd want these back, don't you agree?" Neji asked him, as Shikamaru took the pearls from his hands.

Shikamaru raised his head to look at Neji questioningly.

"You'll be needing this," Neji said, handing Shikamaru what he recognised to be a revolver, "we're going to Suna."

* * *

Nothing had changed, Temari mused as she surveyed the barren lands that engulfed herself and Hinata. The winds were still as rash as ever, blowing sand grains everywhere and making the outskirts of the country rumble as if it was all a part of some giant vacuum.

It was funny, she thought. How a place so practically deserted of life, could look so alive. Looking around now, Temari felt something that she had never experienced as a teenager. Happiness to be home. It felt.....right; to be here. She had never realised it before, but Suna was a part of who she was.

They were alike in many ways. Temari and her country were both scorching; isolated, unlikely to produce water, extremely volatile and were only crossed by those foolish enough to attempt it. She chuckled inwardly; Nationalism. It was a new phenomenon to her. But it felt good.

Temari, Princess of Suna; it sounded good too.

From her vantage point, Temari could see that a few brave groups of people were still clinging to the last remnants of survival in the desert. The army mustn't have destroyed the last two water reserves. Previous to the war there had been at least twenty-five water reserves, littering the desert. Excessive in that ten of them were reserved especially for the Monarchy and moderate in the fact that no matter how many more water reserves they added, there were always shortages.

Either way, it meant that Temari had not made a mistake in travelling home. Suna and her people were still attempting survival; which meant she was right where she should be.

As they made their way through the dunes, Temari advised Hinata to rip off the bottom of her dress and to wrap it around her head to prevent the sand storms from blinding and suffocating them. After doing the same herself, it was all matter of making sure they didn't tumble down into the sandy abyss. Just because she was tough didn't mean she was sturdy. Never in her life had she once explored the sand dunes and she could just imagine the looks on the faces of the Sunese bourgeoisie if they saw their Royalty parading through the outer reaches of their country. It was strangely liberating; to experience the desert in this manner- as if it had been hidden from her all her life.

Finally reaching the end of one particularly lengthy dune, Temari found what she had been looking for. There it stood, in all its war torn glory. Five hundred feet long, one hundred feet high and with just over one thousand, five hundred rooms, the home of the Sunan Monarchy really was a sight to behold, even to Temari.

The Desert Palace, as it was known, was now just that. Deserted.

"We're going to have to slide down," Temari warned Hinata, who gasped in shock.

"Milady, that is.....u-un-unthinkable!" she stuttered, staring warily at the sand.

"It's our only choice, Hinata," Temari pressed, "this is no time for delicacies. I didn't bring you with me because I was hoping that you would iron my petticoats. I did it because I know that when you say you will help, you mean it. And I need your help, Hinata. I can't do this alone," she finished, looking the young girl in the eyes.

Hinata turned her gaze back to the dunes.

"What would you have me do, Princess?" Hinata asked, quietly.

Temari sighed. Even after everything, Hinata still insisted on placing this ridiculous distance between them. They had stripped naked and showered together and yet Hinata still refused to see herself as an equal. There was nothing for it, Temari decided. If it helped Hinata to have orders barked at her, then that was the way it was going to be.

"I would have you slide down the sand dune, Hinata," Temari answered authoritatively, slightly annoyed at how ridiculous she sounded.

Nodding slightly, Hinata sat down in the sand, waiting for Temari to follow suit. Taking her hand, Temari steadied herself beside the girl and pushed them both off. Skidding through the dunes, Temari felt exactly the same sensation she had experienced as a sick child. With the sand flying everywhere; blowing in her face, down her throat, into her eyes and ears- it felt as if the desert was trying to suffocate her again.

When they had landed safely at the bottom, Temari pulled a choking Hinata to her feet and began to continue towards the Palace doors. Just seeing the place again made Temari's mind explode with memories.

The day Kankuro was born.....

The day Gaara was born.......

The day _they_ killed her mother.............

The day her father declared war on Konoha............

The day he died...............

The night they came for the three of them............

Temari had no doubt that the doors would be unlocked. She knew for a fact that the army had been using the Palace as a base of operations whilst in Suna. She doubted that there was anything left inside. If her mother's pearls and art work had made it all the way to Konoha, then it was unlikely they had left any object untouched.

Trudging forward through the sand, Temari wished she had appreciated her home whilst she had it. It was beautiful. Truly beautiful. Konoha's manors and streets had nothing on this.

"M-Mi-Milady, I-I-I can't," Temari heard Hinata stutter.

"Hinata, I hereby invite you inside the Palace. You are now officially my guest. Does that make it any better?" Temari questioned, knowing that Hinata's reluctance to enter the building stemmed from quite a different place than her own.

Hinata's own sense of hierarchy forbid her to enter the Palace without some form of invitation. It was optimistic in a way, Temari thought. It meant that she was considering the possibility that the Monarchy would be restored and she would punished for trespassing. Temari chuckled wryly at that thought. Even if Gaara was to become King, he would never punish Hinata. He would suggest that perhaps the sand had been life-threatening that day; or that Hinata was forced to enter by a pack of wild animals. Gaara would have been an excellent King, Temari thought. He found loopholes in everything.

Thinking back, the only reason that Gaara had been named heir over Kankuro was due to his innate ability to slice through the legislature's reasoning's like butter. He always found something wrong with an Act or a Bill that other minds had thought to be air-tight. Her father had been pleased with that at first. Someone who helped him keep the Privy Council and politicians on their toes. Temari supposed that it was Gaara's way of dealing with the isolation that came with their childhood. Gaara spent hours pouring himself over legal documents; Kankuro shut himself up in his room, creating imaginary worlds with the help of his toys and Temari? She didn't deal with it. She caused as much havoc as possible around the place. True, it was only small things like refusing to keep her elbows off of the table during dinner and putting pinecones in her minder's bed, but it was refreshing to think of new ways to terrorise the household each day. It helped her to keep a hold on her sanity.

Temari did not want to enter the house........._her_ house because...........looking around all she could think was............

War-torn, and decimated and gutted. That was her house now and she had never seen anything more terribly beautiful in her life.

Pushing past the front pillars, whose golden gates had long since been melted down for money, Temari walked swiftly up to the main door trying not to notice the Konohanian flags that now littered the grounds. Three large archways loomed in front of herself and Hinata as she noticed that the door at the back of the main archway as hanging on its hinges, it's other half being missing completely.

As they passed underneath the arch, Temari felt her nerves ease. If she was honest, the trek had insured that her emotions were on edge, in fear that someone; a Konoha soldier, a Sunan or worse- a paramilitary, would recognise her. She honestly doubted that anyone else would inhabit the castle, other than soldiers, most Sunan's sharing the same views as Hinata. She was wrong.

Side stepping around the formidable door, Temari froze as she heard a gun being locked and loaded. Due to the sunlight she could just about make out a shadowy figure sitting on the main hall's steps.

"I suggest you turn around, Missy," a voice growled. "This Palace is to be resided in solely by Gaara, Emperor and Autocrat of all Suna," it continued, "and until he returns, I'm minding it for him," the voice snarled with finality.

* * *

Neji sighed, at what Shikamaru could only presume to be the incredulous look he was now giving the Captain.

"Tenten, could we have a moment, please?" Neji requested, turning to face his lieutenant, who in response growled and stormed into the other room.

Taking a seat on the bed opposite the one Shikamaru was currently residing upon; Neji removed his rifle and set it upon the bed beside him, before facing Shikamaru.

"You are aware of this country's political situation, are you not?" Neji questioned, surprising Shikamaru who was expecting some sort of an explanation. "And I'm not talking about domestic policy," he added, as Shikamaru opened his mouth to speak.

"I assume you are referring to the fact that ever since we displaced Suna's Monarchy, no other nation will converse with our Hokage in a diplomatic manner," Shikamaru began, forcing his brain to think. Asuma would be pleased; he was missing today's lesson due to unforeseen Sunan terrorism.

Neji nodded.

"Oto, Iwa and Kumo have all been at odds with the Konoha, ever since the coup," Neji continued, again shocking Shikamaru. No Konohanian soldier would ever refer to the displacement of the Sunan Monarchy as a 'coup'. Neji however, acknowledged no mistake and continued to speak.

"All three of those countries believe the Monarchy to be the rightful rulers of Suna, and essentially that Konoha has committed severe and barbaric war crimes by its actions," the Captain finished.

"You're practically quoting Kumo's foreign secretary," Shikamaru said wryly to Neji, who replied with a small smirk.

"Suna's resident paramilitaries- the Akatsuki- formed over a wish to stop what they refer to as the 'inaction' of other countries to prevent Konoha's blatant disregard for international law," Neji continued slowly. Shikamaru still could not think for his life what any of this had to do with him.

"In other words, they want to fight back- physically, that is," Shikamaru concluded, regarding the strained look on Neji's features.

"Yes," Neji answered, before Shikamaru cut him off.

"But how would they even do that? It's a completely ludicrous thought," Shikamaru said, almost passionately. "Yes, they have weapons but without the backing of a country or some sort of military force behind them, they haven't the slightest chance in hell of defeating our army," he finished, flinching inwardly at the fact he had sided himself with the Konohanian forces.

"Exactly," Neji replied simply, leaving Shikamaru feeling quite stupid. "From what we can decipher from the threats the government has received from the group, they are aware of that."

"Then why..............." Shikamaru almost asked, trailing off as the cogs in his brain started to turn.

There was no way that......................................

Why did his head have to hurt so badly?

"I remember Asuma telling me once that the bodies of the Sunan Monarch and his family were never found," Shikamaru began, almost thinking aloud, knowing full well that one of those bodies was alive.

Neji simply nodded.

"He also told me that because of that, there was no proof that the army had murdered them," he continued quietly.

Another nod answered his thoughts.

"He said that......that if the bodies had been found, it would have resulted in Konoha tumbling into war with at least three other countries due to the fact that Konoha signed a treaty before the war, stating that it would only reprimand the Monarchy, not kill them. He made it sound as if, aside from Konoha, the Sunan Royals got along quite well with the rest of the region," Shikamaru finished nervously. He didn't like where his thought process was taking him.

"They did," Neji answered briskly. "The Sunan Queen was quite a beauty and many of the Politicians and Royals from other countries were quite enamoured with her. Not to mention the fact that the King was famous for the lavish parties he threw yearly. Konoha chose a very popular Monarchy to get rid of," the soldier continued matter-of-factly. "The other countries did not.........do not want the Sunan Monarchy dead, at any costs. Their respective populations would not take the news well."

Shikamaru chose not to answer, being too lost in thought.

"I can tell you one thing, Nara," Neji said firmly, leaning closer to him, "The King and the Queen are dead. But their children............"

"Temari," Shikamaru breathed.

"The Akatsuki will do anything to get their hands on one of the three royal children," Neji said, standing up and making his way across to the door, which he then locked. "It is understood that should they be successful, they would hold the Royal hostage and insist that Konoha remove its troops and restore Suna's borders. If that request were not to be fulfilled, the group would murder the hostage thus attempting to plunge the Konoha into a multi-fronted War."

Shikamaru didn't have time to think.

"I have to find her," he said, bolting off his bed and towards the door. Slamming his hand against it when he remembered that Neji locked it, he was about to demand his freedom before Neji stopped him.

"No, Nara," Neji said simply, taking a seat behind his desk, "_we_ have to find her."

"What?" Shikamaru questioned breathlessly, still with half a mind to kick the door down.

"There are many," Neji began after clearing his throat, "who do not agree with the way the government are handling the situation. Should the Akatsuki get their hands on a Prince or Princess, it is unlikely that the Hokage would step in to rescue them. As you now know, that could be catastrophic," he concluded, as Shikamaru made his way to the chair facing Neji.

"You too, are sick of the fighting, are you not?" Neji questioned, disturbing Shikamaru who had not been expecting such a direct query.

But he _was_ sick of it. He was sick of seeing photographs in the paper of dying Sunan's and bloodied soldiers. It was not a nice environment to live in. After a while; your conscience numb from hurting so badly, you discovered that you had been desensitized to the suffering from seeing so much fighting constantly litter the headlines. It was an awful way to be.

So he nodded.

"So I am" Neji answered briskly, "and so too is your father."

Shikamaru couldn't speak. He was having trouble swallowing.

Neji smiled wryly, noticing the disbelieving look Shikamaru was giving him.

"Your father did tell me that you thought he was in love with the war machine," the Captain said dryly. "It is quite the opposite, I assure you. In fact it is quite the opposite for many soldiers- nearly the whole army."

"What about?.............." Shikamaru began, finding many problems with Neji's previous statement.

"The ones who loot and steal?" Neji asked, finishing Shikamaru's thought, "they are the same ones every time and they do not do it with direct orders from any general. They do it off of their own bat."

"So, why haven't you disciplined them or stopped them?" Shikamaru questioned, incredulously, trying to figure out Neji's expression.

"We don't want to draw attention," he replied simply.

"Attention to what?" Shikamaru asked exasperatedly. He wished for once, a soldier would just say everything outright instead of leading him around these stupid cryptic explanations.

"To us," Neji said, sitting up straight in his chair and staring Shikamaru directly in the eyes. "To the soldiers who are currently refusing to fire upon Sunan people. To the officers who send out the orders to find, under any means, the children of the Sunan Monarchy and to keep them in Konoha, safe from the government and safe from the Akatsuki. And to your father, who for the past year has been planning a revolution against the Konohanian government."


	11. Chapter 11

Hey guys :)

Just a short author's note to apologize for taking so long. I know a promised no more of that but recent life interruptions have caused my lateness. But things are back to normal now and I intend to update quite regularly.

I suppose this chapter can be looked on as chpt 10 part 2! lol- another long one BUT not as long as chapter 10 and that's all that matters!

I forgot to mention last chapter that the descriptions of the Desert Palace are based upon the Winter Palace in Russia, where the Romanov's lived- Temari's life and that of her family is generally based upon their lives- Temari being Anastasia- so if you want a look at the place, google images ppl!! lol

Thanks to everyone who reviewed- the last chapter really review's really lifted my spirits whenever life was being crap and I really appreciate it! You guys are exceedingly awesome :D

Hope you enjoy this chapter!!

I do not own Naruto

SP7

* * *

As Temari surveyed the scene in front of her, she felt her resolve disappear. Ignoring the dust and debris that littered the once pristine marble patterned floor, she strode purposively across the entrance hall and towards the stairs.

"Princess!" the boy gasped slightly upon recognition of Temari, before dropping the rifle on the floor. After scrambling into a kneeling position himself, he swallowed nervously.

"You know that I would never...if I had known...I..." he struggled to get out, as Temari continued her death march towards him. Her relationship with this boy had never inspired anything other than fear in him and disgust in her. It was exactly right that he was cowering on the floor- she had designs on ripping his guts out.

Ignoring his protests, Temari swept up the rifle in one fluid motion. Locking and loading it, she slammed her foot into the boy's chest, holding his body flat against the stairs.

"Who let you into _my_ house?" she snarled, with the rifle pointed straight into his face, realising that it was a superfluous question seeing as how the door was hanging from its hinges however she couldn't control her anger and had no intention of attempting to do so. Breathing heavily, Temari attempted to ignore the light sniffling sounds that were coming from Hinata.

When she realised that he wasn't going to answer, Temari pressed the rifle straight into the intruder's neck. She noted his eyes widening with satisfaction.

"_Get out,_" she hissed, hearing Hinata sob harder.

"Hinata, please...I" the boy began pathetically, twisting his head around Temari's body in an attempt to see the blue haired girl. Insolence. Always such insolence with this one.

He was cut off when Temari flipped the rifle and slammed the shaft of it straight into the side of his face, successfully bringing his attention back to her.

"You are talking to _me_," Temari spat out. "You think that you can sit in here on the pretence of wanting Gaara back?! You honestly almost had me. I was this close to trusting you and now you think that just because Gaara still trusts you that I..."

"There was a time when you too _did_ trust me, Princess," the boy interrupted. Temari would have almost laughed from nostalgia, if it weren't for the storm raging inside her.

Typical Kiba.

Insistent on getting his point heard every time. Exactly like his mother. She should have spotted that one from the start.

Kiba and her had had an interesting relationship, she thought as she surveyed the boy's pleading face. It would never have been called a friendship, not by anyone's standards. She hated him too much and he respected her to such proportions that there was no level of equality between the two. Temari was happy with it that way. He was one of those people that she was glad to be superior to. If she had had to associate with him on an everyday basis without the ability to call in a butler to shove him out of her room she might have shot herself.

They had met through Kankuro. Not a particularly big revelation in that everything bad that happened in Temari's life usually generated from Kankuro.

Before Gaara was named the successor, Temari's father was driven on Kankuro becoming the perfect heir. Educated; well spoken, interesting, funny and outgoing. Attributes that Temari had always associated with a socialite as opposed to a leader, but regardless, Kankuro was paraded around Suna like some form of religious relic. If he hated it, he never informed Temari. When she was finally allowed to meet with him without the presence of a mosquito net, Temari would sit on his bed and watch him tying his bow tie heralding the beginning of some inconsequential social event. Usually they would trade insults for a while; her commenting on the state of his hair and him responding by asking her what she was planning to wear to the party-Temari wasn't allowed to go. And then off Kankuro would go to the event and by the time he returned home, Temari would be in bed waiting to hear the screams of the night maid when she realised there was a large spider on top of her head.

On one particular occasion that Temari recalled for two reasons; the foremost being that it was the first time she met Kiba and the second being that it was the first night she had attempted to play a trick on her father, she had been lying in bed waiting to see or hear the fruits of her efforts when the door to her room opened.

She knew without looking that it was Kankuro; he was the only person in the Palace who entered her room without knocking first. Tip-toeing his way across the candlelit room, Kankuro paused to signal to someone else behind the door before turning and grinning at Temari wildly. Thinking back made Temari almost smile; it was the beginning of Kankuro's descent from both the throne and society. She had been glad of this; to know that she wasn't the only reject. It was a selfish and childish thought but it made her feel slightly less isolated than she was.

Temari sat up quite abruptly when she saw that it was another boy; she was by no means prudish- as Kankuro was kind enough to inform her when he saw her gather the blankets around her neck- on several occasions she had sashayed around the Palace quite happily in her bloomers until someone realised that the Princess was committing an act of public indecency, albeit inside, but nevertheless, it could encourage exhibitionism and voyeurism of the worst kind- however she was not at all inclined to let this boy, who was idiotic enough to enter her room past midnight, have a free show.

They were both wearing tuxedos; however she noted that the boy's suit had been undone at the top whilst Kankuro's remained intact. If the boy was some person of importance he was certainly doing his best to dispel any evidence of the fact, Temari remembered thinking at the time. His hair was completely in knots and his cuffs were lying open whilst his suit was covered in some sort of white hair.

**Flashback**

"This is Kiba," Kankuro whispered, sitting himself down on her bed. He began to laugh quietly whenever Kiba curtsied to Temari as a form of greeting.

"Milady," he said grinning, lifting the ends of his coat as if it were a dress.

Temari replied by lifting her eyebrow and turning to look at Kankuro for some sort of explanation. She didn't know who this brat thought he was but if he was taking his cue from Kankuro; that he could act the same towards her as her own brother did, then he had another think coming.

"I'm running away," Kiba informed her still smiling with an almost maniacal happiness, as if she had asked him the question.

Temari wished the maid hadn't confiscated that butter knife she had stashed under her pillow.

"He's staying here," Kankuro whispered, giving Temari a look that let her know that this issue had already been decided, prior to any consultation with adults.

Temari cleared her throat lightly. She had a number of options she supposed; she could run to her dresser and grab her perfume and spray them both with it until they left- an act that Kankuro despised- or she scream loudly for her mother. Neither of those options was particularly appealing in that the noise created would ensure that the little surprise she had left for her father would go unfound.

Sighing, she decided a dignified silence was the best solution. She could douse Kankuro and the dirty one in her perfume in the morning. However, she continued to survey the boy called Kiba with some form of distaste. He was making her room look untidy. Temari generally didn't have a problem with the room being untidy but _only she_ was allowed to decide upon it being in that state. And at the present moment she wished for it to be tidy, calm and testosterone free.

She laughed inwardly. The boy was shrinking under her gaze. That was good, she thought. He should be afraid.

"Good," Kankuro said happily, obviously expecting that some form of noise would signal a rejection of this scheme. "Glad you've learnt your place," he said, winking at Kiba.

"Right," her illustrious brother continued, yanking the pillow out from under Temari, who was beginning to think that punching Kankuro would be much more satisfying that annoying her father. "Put this under the bed," he instructed the boy, throwing him the pillow. "Temari, give him one of your sheets. Wait here, Kiba, I'll get the mutt," he said before making to exit the bedroom.

Temari coughed loudly, still refusing the grace this intruder with her voice.

"He _has_ to sleep here," Kankuro insisted, by way of reply. "They'll check my room," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "No one would ever..." Kankuro started before he was interrupted by a loud wail.

"TEMARI!!!!" came a loud voice from down the hall.

Temari felt her stomach leap happily and a large smirk form across her face as she heard fast footsteps coming towards her door. She'd once tried to explain this feeling to Hinata, who likened it to the feeling she got whenever she was around some blonde hero who seemed to rule her heart and head. Temari agreed with this notion quite happily; if this was love then she had found her life partner- mischief. Mischief didn't bark orders at her or tell her how to behave. He didn't insist upon her constant silence or beauty and he definitely didn't _ever_ tell her that she was getting married. Temari was pleased with her choice of a life partner; she didn't intend to give him up.

"Ahhhhhhhhhh," Kankuro hissed, shoving Kiba under the bed before following himself, just before the door to Temari's room opened and poured light into the area.

Her father stood in the door frame dripping water all over the carpet and shivering from cold ice that was undoubtedly making its way down his back.

He glared at her as if seeking some form of explanation to which Temari merely stared back. It's my skin or his, she thought, before pointing under the bed.

Her father knitted his eyebrows together before, bending down to look underneath the bedstead. Smiling lightly, Temari pulled her other pillow underneath herself and propped it up nicely, waiting for the show to begin.

She didn't see her father's face, but she did hear Kiba's shriek as her father hauled him by his collar out from under the bed before grabbing Kankuro and doing the same.

Letting go of his son's collar, the King turned to look at the two miscreants for some form of explanation. Both her father and brother in one night, Temari mused. This had been a good night.

"I-you-we-Kiba's..." Kankuro stuttered before giving up completely. "Bitch," he spat at Temari, who merely smirked back at him. That comment earned him a smack on the back of his head.

"I'll have a carriage bring you home tonight, Kiba," her father said, both to the boy and the maid who had ran to the room at the sound of her father's scream. The maid scuttled off, the King's wet jacket in hand, before the Sunese leader followed. "Go to your room, Kankuro," he called from down the hall.

Kankuro opened his mouth to begin what Temari assumed was an onslaught of the words he couldn't say in front of their father, before Kiba interrupted.

"You...," he began, with his eyes wide. "You did that....to your dad....with the water and all?" he said, staring at Temari, in what she was beginning to regard as a freakish manner.

Temari nodded slightly, before berating herself for replying to him. 'You...your dad'- what did this idiot think he was up to- referring to Royalty as if he knew them intimately. Ordinarily, Temari wouldn't have minded. But something...she didn't quite know what....irked her to death about his boy.

"_Cool_," he breathed, his eyes getting wider, before Kankuro made a noise signalling his disapproval of Kiba's admiration.

Grabbing the stunned boy by the collar, in the same manner as her father had done previously, Kankuro dragged Kiba out of the room. But not before raising his middle finger to Temari in a flamboyant gesture. Temari didn't know what that gesture meant; she assumed Kankuro had learnt it at school- but she knew that it had guaranteed Kankuro the same bucket of icy water tied above his doorway that had greeted her father on his entrance to his bedroom that night.

**End Flashback**

Thinking back on it now, this whole thing....the whole ordeal that they went through with Kiba; it was all Kankuro's fault. If he had never brought that boy into their house then Naruto...Gaara, even Kiba himself; they could have avoided all _this._

"You are a traitor and a backstabbing deserter," Temari seethed. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right now," she finished, resisting the urge to pummel him more with the end of the rifle.

"I didn't desert!" Kiba replied, desperately. "Temari, of all the people who did, you know that I would never..."

" Bullshit!" Temari yelled, her finger tightening on the trigger. "You _knew_," she continued, feeling tears prick her eyes. "You knew what they were planning to do and did nothing to stop it! And it's _Princess_ to you, you low down piece of dirt!" she spat, jumping when she heard footsteps coming towards her.

Looking upwards towards the main balcony, Temari dropped the rifle in shock as she heard Hinata's weeping intensify.

"We didn't desert you, Temari," the blonde said. "Gaara knows that, Kankuro knows that..._you _know that, Princess," Naruto continued, trudging down the stairs to stand face to face with the stunned Temari. "We've missed you," Naruto finished, smiling slightly and taking her free hand in his.

As she felt Naruto squeeze her hand, Temari turned to look at Kiba lying on the floor, feeling the tears that were spilling over her eyes make their way down her face.

* * *

**Flashback**

"So, Konoha is right to invade Suna?"

"Mm hmm."

"And to keep their population as slaves?"

"Mm hmm."

"And when the war is officially over, should we just execute them all?"

"Mm hmm."

"Shikamaru," Asuma called, snapping his fingers irritably in front of the Shikamaru's face. Why did he insist on teaching him things? The clouds were nice today. What else was there to know other than that?

"What?" Shikamaru asked impatiently as he broke from his stare.

"These lessons. What is the point of them?"

"I've been asking myself the same thing for a long time," Shikamaru answered dejectedly, his eyes still trained just above Asuma's head.

"You know what I mean," Asuma responded, grinning slightly. "Why do we have these lessons?"

Shikamaru sighed.

"To prepare me for a life in either politics or law, so that I can bring honour to the family, continue my father's good work, please my mother, earn money to support my wife and children and to further benefit the great nation of Konoha in all its endeavours," he answered in one breath.

"Well, I can see now that they have been an absolute waste," Asuma replied, as the Shikamaru's eyes flicked back to his teacher's attempting to quickly replace the questioning look that adorned his face by one of practised boredom.

"What?" Shikamaru asked tiredly, rubbing his forehead.

"You will never be a good politician and you would make an even worse lawyer," Asuma continued, eyeing Shikamaru in what was a very annoying manner.

Shikamaru stared at his teacher sardonically. Like he didn't know that already. Politics was corrupt and disinteresting. The legal profession was even worse. If he didn't hate wasting his own energy more than he hated the idea of becoming a lawyer, he would have alienated every judge in the country just so he could escape the idiocy that his life was on fast track to becoming.

"You want to know why?" Asuma prodded, attempting to catch Shikamaru's gaze.

"I have a feeling that you're going to tell me either way, oh learned one," Shikamaru replied sarcastically.

"You are very good at observing, Shikamaru. That skill makes for an excellent lawyer. I would pity the person that would come up against you in the dock. But you forget. You forget that whilst you are observing, there are always people observing you. Looking for slip-ups, or emotions that they can use against you. And you let them see everything they want to. Every little expression or mannerism gives something away. If you were a politician, the press would murder you for that. If you were a lawyer, your cases would be lost before you even got your first witness to the dock," Asuma finished with a sigh.

Shikamaru turned this notion over in his head for a few moments. Normally, he would have abandoned it as another attempt by Asuma to get a pay rise but there was something in it. He did give himself away too easily. _That_ was why his father was always beating him at shougi. Why his mother put fifty locks on every door in the house in case he made a break for it.

"You know what modern politics is missing, Shikamaru?" Asuma asked, in an almost optimistic manner. That meant he expected Shikamaru to get the answer right.

In truth there were many answers to that question, all of them relevant but Shikamaru was struggling to see what Asuma was driving at, therefore, he chose the answer he knew his teacher would enjoy.

"Do you really want to get me started on that one?" Shikamaru replied cynically, recognising the trademark smirk on his tutor's face. Asuma enjoyed Shikamaru's cynicism. In his heart, Shikamaru knew anarchy was Asuma's political persuasion of choice and watching Shikamaru pick the modern polity apart generally amused him.

"_Dissent_," Asuma continued, his smile widening. "They are all the same; the politicians sitting up in that chicken coup pretending that they aren't all living in a moral vacuum. They all think, eat, dress, worship and live the exact same as one another."

"I know," Shikamaru said, sighing as memories of the most recent political fundraiser flooded his mind. "I spend half my life having to listen to their endless prattle," he finished, wondering _again _why he was letting his mother push him in this direction.

"And _I_ know what you think, Shikamaru," Asuma furthered, leaning into towards Shikamaru. "I know that you think that the only reason I teach you this rubbish is because I'm attempting to save enough to buy my own house..."

"Don't forget the woman, Asuma. I'm sure she wouldn't be dating you if you weren't buying her dinner every weekend...amongst other things," Shikamaru cut in, not having to look at his teacher to see the blush that he was now sporting.

"_Either way_," Asuma pressed on, clearing his throat, "I like to think that I am not part of the moral vacuum that you seem to suggest the whole country lives in. I am teaching you this rubbish, for lack of a better word, because I am hoping that you will begin to see it for what it really is; destructive. All this continuity and order. It is turning our country into an unethical beast that is no longer concerned with anything other than its own preservation," Asuma continued, red colouring his face.

Shikamaru found it interesting when Asuma began to get passionate about things. He likened it to hearing his father talk about the days before the war. It happened rarely but when it did, it was always worth listening to.

"What we need...what this country needs, is change. _You,_ you, Shikamaru can do that. If you began to think about what Konoha is doing to others and to herself, you would see how truly disgusting it is. And you would yearn for change, like I do. If you were elected, or even made it as far as to become a Judge, you could bring this change about and end the cycle that we are all stuck in."

**End Flashback**

Shikamaru didn't know why he recalled this particular memory, as he eyed the revolver in his hand. The change Asuma was talking about. It was his father that was bringing it about. Not him. And yet somehow he had managed to get himself caught up in it.

He wondered what Asuma would say if he saw him with a gun in his hand. Anarchy was one thing. Violence was another and he had a feeling he knew what Asuma's thoughts towards the latter was.

"Are you ready?" Neji asked, as Shikamaru closed the zipper on his duffle bag.

Looking around his room, Shikamaru tried to think of anything else he should take with him. Really, thought was fruitless at this point. His head was already packed full of so many memories, ideas and questions that he was reluctant to jam more in at the present.

Neji apparently had other ideas.

"Generally," Neji began, from his seated position in Shikamaru's 'cloud-watching' chair, "missions are made up of four parts which need to be taken into consideration," the soldier continued seriously. Shikamaru wasn't sure how much more army talk he could take right now. "The objective; the plan, the threat and the risk."

"And our objective is to get Temari back," Shikamaru pressed, making sure Neji knew that that was _his_ objective at least.

"Yes," Neji replied delicately, sending Shikamaru a look that instantly set him on alert; a revelation was about to present itself- Neji's eyes always flickered the same way before he revealed his true thoughts or intentions. "Our plan is to travel to Suna as if on a recreational trip, locate Temari as covertly as possible and convince her to follow us back," the Captain went on, as Shikamaru studied him intensely, before nodding his agreement to the plan. The less attention they drew to themselves the better.

"The threat?" Shikamaru asked, knowing the answer to this question already.

"The Akatsuki and a small portion of the Konohanian army. However, should we run into either your directions are to get the Princess to safety. At no point must you compromise this mission for the sake of gallantry on either my behalf or Tenten's, you understand?" Neji stated harshly, as Shikamaru inwardly doubted that that would happen. Gallantry had never been his strong point.

Before he was about to enquire as to the risk element, Shikamaru was cut off by Neji's suddenly alert stance.

"The risk, Shikamaru, is you," Neji continued, as if it was the most matter-of-fact thing in the world. Obviously sensing Shikamaru's disbelief, the soldier pressed on quickly. "She will not want to come. She will not trust either me or you, considering past events. And knowing the Princess as I do, she will do just about everything to get out of following us, which may include attempting to play upon your feelings for her. This is the risk element, Shikamaru. You cannot, under any circumstance, indulge her, no matter how badly you may want to. If you attempt to, I will have to kill you. This mission is too important to sacrifice for the sake of your emotions and her lack of cooperation."

Shikamaru sat in silence. He could not deny that Neji was right. If Temari attempted to sweet talk her way out of her capture, it was unlikely that Shikamaru would go against her. Her happiness was everything to him but when rational thought pervaded it was little in comparison to the many lives that would be lost if an international war did break out.

"I understand," Shikamaru replied quietly. "Shoot me if you have to, but I intent to follow this mission through. And Temari's safety is more important than any regard she might hold for me."

"Good," Neji said, standing and beginning to exit the room.

Standing up slowly, Shikamaru began to follow him lazily, his brain still processing. Making their way down the main stairs, Shikamaru fell into pace beside Neji.

"I take it this means Tenten is part of the insurgency?" Shikamaru asked conversationally, remembering that the female lieutenant was accompanying them and wondering vaguely if he should leave Ino a note.

Neji nodded curtly in response.

"I definitely misjudged the lieutenant," Shikamaru stated, musing over his first impressions of the girl. "She seems to hate everything Sunan," he finished, feeling an uncharacteristic urge to quicken their pace as thoughts of Temari flitted across his head.

"She does," Neji said, pausing at the door as he collected his hat, rifle and jacket. "But she also despises the current Konohanian government as much as the others do," he said, buttoning up his apparel.

"Then wouldn't we be better bringing someone who would feel more at ease entering Suna?" Shikamaru questioned, now wondering why they were bringing a soldier who would happier to see the back of Temari.

"The girl has an aim you can't fault," Neji said matter-of-factly, slinging his rifle around his body. "And I can trust her not to let her own personal feelings towards the Princess affect the mission," the Captain finished, straightening to face Shikamaru and placing his hand on the door.

"Personal feelings...she doesn't actually want to see Temari harmed does she? Because if so I would much rather..." Shikamaru trailed off, stopping Neji from opening the door.

Neji sighed.

"She knows how important Temari is. Suffice to say that is why she does not like her," Neji began, shifting slightly, and lowering his hand. "I would prefer that what I am about to tell you now would stay between us, Nara," Neji continued, seriously. Once Shikamaru had nodded, Neji went on. "I presume that you believe every word of what the Princess told you about me to be true," the solider stated, "and it is not. Evidentially, Temari believes what she wants to, forgetting who I am as a person. I do not do things without reason or act on whims of emotion, regardless of what she might have told you."

"So, you are using Tenten's emotions as a means of recruitment for the revolt?" Shikamaru, concluded, stating the only idea that came to mind from Neji's words. Without a direct question, Shikamaru might not get to Neji's real meaning for another three weeks.

The Captain sighed again, however this time much more harshly.

"I did not 'fall in love' with the lieutenant, and then proceed to desert my country, as the Princess suggests," Neji furthered. "The very idea is as despicable to my own mind as it is to Temari's. I noticed my peer's regard for me after some close examination and consulted a General on the matter, fearing that her own scrutiny of me might give away our information. I was then ordered to attempt to encourage these feelings further, much to my own personal abhorrence. However, I am a soldier and I follow orders and therefore I did as I was instructed to do," Neji stated, looking more than slightly tired and revealing what could possibly be the beginnings of dejection through his eyes. Or was it shame?

"When I could be sure of the girl's allegiance, I informed her of the insurgency, upon which she promptly agreed to help, stating that she had held similar feelings regarding the Konohanian government for a long period of time," the soldier continued. "The reason she does not like Temari, is that she mistakes my apprehension for her whereabouts and general reverence for my Princess to be indicative of.....emotions. Which do not exist outside my wish to do what is right for Suna and my King," Neji finished quietly, studying a painting in the hall with great intensity.

Shikamaru thought this sudden disclosure was rather odd, considering Neji's own statement that he did not act upon emotion and this outburst reeked of it.

"If you are sure of Tenten's allegiance, then why do you continue to pursue her?" Shikamaru asked, feeling he had just hit upon the right question, which was confirmed by the uncomfortable look that Neji was now exhibiting.

"Do you love her?" Shikamaru quizzed further, following the Captain's silence, intending to fully understand the relationship between the two before he said something inappropriate and received a bullet in the shoulder as a result.

Shikamaru chuckled inwardly, as the soldier continued to look more and more uncomfortable. Emotions were definitely not Neji's strong point, he thought as the Captain continued his silence.

"Alright," Shikamaru said, deciding to put Neji out of his misery. "You don't need to answer that. If you haven't told her yet, I see little reason for you to tell me," he said, opening the door and continuing out, ignoring the disgruntled look on the soldier's face.

* * *

Temari studied the faces of the group she was currently keeping as company. Sitting on a higher step than either Naruto or Kiba, Temari regarded the earnest expression on their faces. She had tried sitting on a lower step, but both of the boys had promptly shifted to position themselves lower than her, an act that she had found extremely annoying. Not twenty minutes in Kiba's company and he was already making her wish she had shot him when she had the chance.

Whilst this fact in itself was annoying, it was not half as irksome as the detail that Hinata remained sitting on the floor in front of the door, still sobbing quietly. She was waiting for Naruto to invite her to join them, but being the ignorant fool that he was, the boy had yet to ask for her company. Temari supposed Naruto's mind was focused on one thing; Gaara.

Temari, herself, was having trouble focusing her mind. She was attempting to piece together an explanation as to how Naruto and Kiba were both alive and in Suna, and having little success. Neither of the boys showed any sign of informing her of the facts without her own probing, so - she began.

"My mother is dead," Temari started, looking down at Kiba. "My mother is dead because of your mother. You were aware of your family's plan to destabilize the Monarchy. I know this because Kankuro has informed me of the fact. The current King of Suna is working as a manservant in Konoha whilst the Grand Duke's whereabouts are at the present unknown," Temari continued, before turning to Naruto. "You," she said pointedly, "are supposed to be dead. The fact that you are not leads me to two conclusions- neither of which are pleasant. Either you were colluding with Kiba and his family and Gaara was not aware, or, that you joined the Konohanian army voluntarily. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill the both of you right now?" she finished, glaring at the boys and gripping the rifle in her hands.

* * *

"Is she in there?"

"She is."

"Let's go get her then. Easy pick up. Hardest part will be not blowing her head off. The Uchiha wouldn't like it if I did that."

"It would be a waste of time to go in now."

"She is sitting right there!"

"I cannot trust you not to destroy the place. It would ruin everything."

"..."

"We will go and get Kakuzu. He will ensure she arrives alive."

"You and your useless prattling. She might escape if we leave her here unattended and _that_ would be an even bigger waste of time."

"....Fine. I will stay here and make sure she does not move. You, go and inform the others. And be quick about it, Deidara. I don't intend to spend all day waiting for you."


	12. Chapter 12

Hey guys!

Okay, this chapter kind of differs from my usual writing because most of it is set in the past- indicated by the italics. I dont' know why it ended up like that but I just started writing and this is how it came out. I hope you enjoy!

Random thought; after reading PSITeleport's 'Twitterpated', i couldn't help but thinking that the Sandsibs remind me of the three kittens from the aristocats- Gaara being Toulouse, Temari being Marie and Kankuro being Berlioz. Anyone? It just came to me for some reason! lol! I would thorougly support any attempts at writing a fanfic like that- though I pity the poor soul who attempts it! ;)

Anyways! Thanks so much for the reviews- I really appreciate them, as in I want to break into song disney stylee. Don't ask- i'm on a disney rampage this week for some reason!

By the way- the 'La Regente' mentioned in the story is a huge pearl stone and it can be found on google image if you wanna see exactly what I'm talking about. Either way, it's worth tonnes- remember that if nothing else!!! lol

Hope you like this chapter- it goes out to Bibliophile Nincompoop- she knows why! :)

I don't own Naruto!

SP7

* * *

_Temari tossed a little in her sleep, awoken by the sounds of whispering outside her door. The light peeping through the cracks in her door was blurred by the figures concealed movements, throwing her face in and out of the shadows. _

"_It's a deception," Temari heard her father whisper....she had never heard his voice so low. When her father spoke he boomed to make sure everyone was listening. "If they do come, they will go straight for your chambers. However, if you stay here...in an insignificant room such as this...we will catch them on entry to your quarters preventing them from causing any real damage," he finished with a hiss. _

_Temari stared through blurred eyes at the door. Surely she must be dreaming. Her father sounded concerned. Temari had heard him omit many emotions before, yet they were generally ones of belligerence, never softness...if it could be called that. His voice was still crisp enough for her to recognise. _

"_And if they do find out?" _

_Her mother's voice came next. Living in a house filled with three men and a daughter who could hardly be described as feminine, the Queen's voice was like a larks; soft and compassionate. However, even within whisper, Temari could still hear the distressed tones of her mother's usually tranquil voice. _

"_You expect me to put the life of my child in danger, for fear of my own?" her mother continued, the questioning tones in her accent underlining her anger. _

"_I have consulted with the Palaces security and it is unanimously agreed that this is the best form of action to take," the King pressed harshly, his shadow whipping in and out of the light. "Karura, barely anyone in this kingdom is aware of the Duchess's appearance and many more are completely oblivious to her identity at all," her father continued, making Temari wonder if he had forgotten her name. It was not a long stretch of the imagination to assume so. He forgot everything else about her. "They will not suspect you to be residing in here. I understand your feelings, but I must insist," he finished, clicking the door handle to Temari's room open. _

"_And the Crown Prince?" Temari heard her mother question quietly. _

"_Gaara's chambers are being relocated. I am reluctant to divulge where to for security reasons...but he is safe. He will be safe," the King said firmly, as Temari bolted straight up in bed. _

_Gaara? _

_The Crown Prince? _

_When had that changed? _

_It was understandable that she did not know of the event taking place. If Temari barely associated with Kankuro, she was practically in solitary confinement when it came to her youngest brother. She had only heard of him through her maids and caught various glimpses of him slipping through the hallways. He looked like her father, she remembered. Drifting through the Palace one day she had come face to face with the young Prince, staring him down. She may have been a female, but she was still his superior. He merely looked at her in return. Whether it was with curiosity or disdain or some mixture of the two, Temari could not make out. But she stood there until he left; leaving her with the distinct impression that she bored him. _

_Her sudden movement alerted her parents, who both turned to face her. Surveying their faces Temari found her mother smiling at her; her face etched with the expression mother's gave their children when they were trying to shield them from the realities of the world. Her father had already looked away and was staring at her mother imploringly. _

_The Queen let out a small sigh and stepped forward into Temari's bedroom, looking less than pleased whenever her father closed the door soundly. Lighting a candle that adorned the mantelpiece, her mother made her way over to the bedstead. As she settled herself on the edge of the mattress, Temari felt her mother surveying her, as if looking for some hint of an emotion that wasn't there. _

_She began by sighing. _

"_Your father...he loves you..." she said quietly. Temari would have found the statement convincing if it weren't for the fact that not even her mother knew what her father was thinking. Occasionally, when she was told what was going on in Suna, Temari wondered if her father even knew what he was thinking. _

_Saying nothing, Temari settled herself into the bed sheets facing away from her mother. She did move over a little to the side to allow room for her mother however there really was no point in this shift. The bed could fit five people at least. _

_Feeling her mother sliding under the covers, Temari gave into the inevitable and turned around, placing her head in the warmth of her parent's lap. She fell asleep to the feeling of her mother combing her fingers through her hair. _

* * *

_The next morning, Temari awoke to find herself in an empty bed, however upon glancing around the room she found her mother seated at her dresser. As her mother patted the space beside her on the ornate cushioned stool, Temari moved slowly out of bed and pulled her feet across the carpeted floor. Accompanying the Queen on the seat, Temari mimicked her mother by facing forward to study herself in the mirror. _

_Feeling her mother place two fingers under her chin, she allowed her head to be tilted upwards at an angle, so that she was now parallel to the mirror. Temari was reminded briefly of the time when she was eight and her governess used to place a cluster of holly leaves underneath her chin to keep it held at an appropriate height. _

"_I never imagined that I would bear such a pretty daughter," her mother said, relinquishing her hold on Temari's chin. Temari turned her head away somewhat shyly. The realm of appearances and beauty were strangers to her, known only by their idealised place in that of marriage. Her predecessors had been known for their physical splendour; the portraits that adorned the palace walls reminded her on a daily basis of the handsomeness of her ancestors whilst the household maids tittered on the importance of perfecting her looks in order to secure an ideal husband._

_Surveying herself in the mirror, Temari found her eyes moving towards her mother. The kindness in her eyes made her far more beautiful than Temari could ever be. Flickering her gaze back to the mirror she found only austerity in her own. She wondered if other girls her age pondered on the emotions in their eyes. She doubted Kankuro gave it a second thought. _

_Her own harsh teal eyes met her mother's soft brown ones. Smiling, the Queen picked a large velvet box off the table and opened it carefully. Temari felt her eyes widen in shock. Even living in such an ornate Palace, the beauty of this tiara still shocked her._

_The diamonds trailed intricately through loops and swirls, attached by pearls at each junction. The tiara met in a V shape at the crown of the forehead upon which large tear shaped pearl hung, connected to the main piece by a cluster of diamonds. _

"_La Regente," she heard her mother whisper, as she placed the crown upon Temari's head. Feeling the large pearl hang delicately upon her forehead, Temari turned to the mirror to find she did not know the girl staring back at her. _

_She reached up to touch the pearl on her forehead, barely skimming its surface with her fingers- afraid she might damage its beauty just by touching it. _

"_I had it made for your tenth birthday," her mother said, standing up and moving behind Temari. Sweeping her hair off of her shoulders, and pinning it in a bun behind her head, her mother continued. "Your father swore blind that you would not wear it," she said, studying the results of her efforts, "but I think you wear it quite beautifully," her mother finished, lifting Temari by the elbows, signalling for her to stand. _

_Standing in front of her mother, she turned her to face the full length mirror. "My little Grand Duchess," the Queen said fondly, smoothing out her white night gown from the back, as Temari examined her fourteen year old self. She could not help but smile a little. She looked so......regal._

"_You see it now, don't you?" her mother whispered contentedly noticing her smile and setting her head on Temari's shoulder. "Where you come from. You are Suna's Princess, Temari. And _they_ love you. The Sunese people. When you are introduced to court, you will see, Temari. You will see what I see."_

_Temari continued to stare at her reflection; her mother's words transfixing her as she tried to reconcile Temari the Princess with Temari the fourteen year old girl. _

_Temari was so transfixed that she did not notice when the door to her room opened. She was broken out of her reverie by the sound of a loud bang. She jumped at she felt her mother's hands fall from her waist. As her mother's body no longer constricted her view of the doorway, through the mirror she saw a body dart around the door frame and the sounds of running footsteps. _

_Still staring in the mirror, frozen still, Temari felt tears beginning to pool in her eyes. She did not know why. Nothing had happened. She had seen nothing. She held her head high with the tiara still sitting proudly atop her person, afraid to look down. She watched as a maid came running around the corner of the door frame and flinched when she let loose a blood curdling scream, and fell to the ground. _

_Tilting her head to look towards the ground, Temari felt 'La Regente' slip from her head and fall gently to the floor as she surveyed her mother's reflection in the mirror; eyes still filled with kindness. _

* * *

_Three days after the funeral, Temari sat on the end of Kankuro's bed watching him fumble with his bow tie. Their usual quips and jokes were lacking today. _

"_He's making me go," Kankuro said quietly, suddenly breaking the silence, still looking into his mirror and not at Temari. "I don't want to," he mumbled, "he says we can't be an absentee Monarchy," her younger brother finished, picking up a comb and pulling it through his hair, studying his reflection. _

_Temari said nothing. _

"_When are you going to dress properly?" Kankuro snapped, obviously annoyed by her silence. "You've been sitting in your night gown for at least five days now. The only time you changed was when....when...when they made you. It's not normal. Do you think it's what she would want?" he finished pointedly, setting the comb down and moving back to his bow tie still not happy with the results. _

_Temari sighed and closed her eyes. _

"_Who did you tell?" she asked quietly. _

_Kankuro said nothing but abruptly stopped moving. _

"_Only you would have known," she continued, having trouble swallowing. "I knew nothing until it happened and Gaara was in confinement. Your weekly meetings with...with Dad. He must have told you then. That she was going to be sharing my room. _Who did you tell?"_ she finished sharply, yet still not speaking above a whisper. _

_Kankuro opened his mouth and Temari could sense denial coming before he said anything. _

"_Who did you tell?" she spat, feeling anger boil in her stomach. _

"_No one!" Kankuro yelled from across the room, finally turning to face her. _

_A silence set in before Temari leapt from the bed and threw herself at him. Tackling Kankuro to the ground, she landed on top of him as he hit the floor. Feeling her fingers clench into fists she threw one hand into his face, followed by another and another, against his fervent struggles. _

_Stopping when she saw blood stream from his nose, she grabbed him around his neck and slammed in head into the carpet. _

"_WHO DID YOU TELL?!" she screamed, glaring into his eyes, ripping inside when she noticed that he shared the same eyes as their mother. _

_The silence arrived again punctuated only by the sharp sounds of the siblings breathing heavily. _

_Noticing tears pool in her brother's eyes, Temari loosened her grip slightly. _

"_Kiba," he whispered quietly, before the tears began making their way down his face. _

_Unable to control her rage, Temari slammed another fist into his jaw, before standing and running out of the room, doubting that she'd ever be able to look her brother in the face again. _

* * *

_She tried convincing her father that it was an inside assassination- an attempt from within to destabilize the Monarchy- but he wouldn't listen. He believed without doubt that the hit man had been sent from Konoha. Not their enemy but not their ally either. _

_He believed it because it was what he was told to believe. _

_She sat back daily and watched her father unravel mentally. Temari had never suspected her father to be attached to her mother or even have some sort of feelings for her due to fact that their marriage had been an arranged one. At first she took his mental breakdown to constitute some form of love. Some despair over the loss of his wife. It wasn't, she realised in time. He was mourning the loss of his security. Her mother was the first Sunan Monarch to be assassinated. Ever. _

_Temari watched as paranoia set in; her father firing and hiring new security every day on whims of who he could and could not trust. _

_All Konohanian citizens were deported, including Uzumaki Naruto. A boy of fortune, which was left to him by his parents, who had decided to live in Suna, for reasons unknown. Temari did not know him intimately. Her youngest brother and Hinata did. It was big news in the papers when he left- he was like Kankuro- a well known socialite. To the papers, it signified the last of the old, decadent Suna. _

_Gaara never left his security confines after that. She remembered reading in the papers that he too was dead according to 'a palace source'. _

_Kankuro continued to attend various social parties, not because her father made him, but because it was an excuse to get drunk. He still saw Kiba. _

_Temari continued to not exist. She moved to a different room in the Palace so as to escape the memories. From what she could tell, no one else entered the room either. She never saw her crown after that. She assumed a maid had picked it up and stored it away. She couldn't bear to ask after it. She was afraid. Afraid if she got it back, there would be blood stains on it. _

_She left the Palace once; not on a social engagement, rather on a whim. She didn't do much. Nobody recognised her so she was free to wander around Suna as she pleased. _

_When she got back, her father beat her senseless. As the nurse patched up her broken arm, she wished more than anything that they had shot her father instead. _

_She didn't leave her room after that having all her meals brought to her. She stopped her lessons with her tutors and spent most of her days reading or daydreaming. Occasionally, she would beat the hell out of a piece of furniture just so she could feel something breaking underneath her fingers. The servants never questioned it but the next day there would always be a new piece of furniture. _

_She found out soon enough that Kiba's mother was a member of the Privy Council; a far left advisor to her father. Pro democracy. Pro Republic. _

_Control was slipping further and further away from her father, as he continued to shut himself up in his chambers meeting only with his advisors, who advised him to stay away from his throne- if only for his own safety. He believed them. _

_News came and whispers echoed around the Palace that Naruto had not left Suna, but had gone into hiding, following various different sightings. He was reported dead days later by a tabloid newspaper. She believed it. Gaara did not, she later found out. He was either dead, or he had allied himself with the Konohanian army, in an attempt to save his skin yet remain in Suna, in Temari's opinion. It mattered little in the end. _

_Three years after her mother's death, a coup d'état took place against her father, during the war. Konoha's military forces entered the country and handed control over to a make-shift, non-elected parliament with the Inuzuka's at the helm. _

_Armed men entered her house and shot her father. Herself and Kankuro escaped only by hiding in Gaara's secure chambers underground. Their youngest brother came and found them trying to barricade themselves into the kitchen and proceeded to help them hide. _

_Three days later, they left their confinements only to discover the Palace stripped of all furniture and decorations- the floors littered with the dead bodies of their servants. _

_They made their way to the edge of the country, living in a rundown house that had somehow managed to survive the war unlike its previous occupants. _

_A year later they found out that the Konohanian army had killed all members of the new Sunese Parliament, after vocal disagreements between the Hokage and their new leader over the border's placement. Martial law was instigated. _

_Each day papers would roll past the house, torn out raggedy clippings informing them of their own death, survival or abduction. Photographs of Kankuro and Gaara were proudly displayed on the papers- Temari was mentioned, but always visibly absent. It was an unlikely advantage. It kept them under the radar. _

_Over time she learnt to forgive Kankuro despite his constant affirmations that Kiba had not betrayed them. She grew to love her youngest brother when she found that he too was lonely, exactly like her. _

_Over time, Temari forgot what her mother looked like. She tried to picture her face but could only see blurs- faded outlines that tricked her mind and when she strained to see, disappeared right before her. _

_Over time, Temari grew happy that her father had died. He was a terrible King. He had needed to die. She had never loved her father which was odd considering how much she sought his approval as a young child. His death was like flicking your finger through a candle's flame. No comparison to the white hot flames that had engulfed and branded her body when her mother died. _

_Over time, Temari's hatred for Inuzuka Kiba grew to such epic proportions that she swore blind that she would kill him if she ever saw him again. _

_Over time, Temari forgot everything she ever learned about being a Princess. But she never forgot how she looked when her crown had graced her head. She never forgot that she was a Princess. And Princess's got their way. Always. And if...__**when**__ Temari got her way, Inuzuka Kiba would be dead by the time he turned twenty._

* * *

"So basically the Inuzuka family were behind the death of the Sunese Queen?" Shikamaru questioned, doing his best not to trip over the many roots that tarnished the ground they were currently walking on.

"It depends who you believe," Neji replied, gliding along the path with ease.

They had been walking for a few hours now and it was just entering the evening wondered if it was his imagination or if- as they got closer to Suna- the sun blazed with more intensity despite the fact that it was setting for the day. The heat still remained the same- warm enough to powder everyone in a light sweat but not yet hot enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

The land they were currently crossing was exceedingly dry; littered with dead or dying plants. A far cry from the vegetation of Konoha. The whole place looked like it was starving. And it smelt of death. But as they were still travelling over a form of soil, albeit dust-covered soil, Shikamaru assumed that they still had a long way to go. He had never been to Suna, but he had heard that the sand contaminated the place like a plague.

Neji had been filling him in on the finer points of Sunese history as they walked; the events that didn't make the papers or that Asuma didn't teach him. He knew that the war had started over the bombing of a Konoha weapons factory, but he had no idea that the catalyst for the event had been the death of the Sunese Queen.

Tenten had remained silent throughout the journey.

"And who do you believe?" Shikamaru prodded, knowing that despite Neji's reluctance to divulge it, he held an opinion on the matter somewhere within him.

"There is no doubt that the Inuzuka's instigated the attacks, upon both the Queen and the King," the solider replied, pausing briefly to cough lightly, "and that they had help from the Konohanian government. However, the extent of this help is unknown," he finished, his eyes studying the setting sun.

"So it was a coup," Shikamaru confirmed, more to his own mind that anything else. He had believed that when Neji had referred to the events of the past six years as such that he was revealing his allegiance to the Sunan Monarchy; in fact he had been telling the truth.

Neji said nothing, but merely continued walking.

"That must be strange," Shikamaru said, thinking aloud, his mind still trying to piece together everything he had heard in the last twenty-four hours. "Working for the army that destroyed your Monarchy."

Again, Neji said nothing, but Shikamaru could distinctly feel Tenten's eyes drilling into the side of his head.

Finally the solider sighed.

"It is for the greater good," he stated firmly, pausing in his gait when Shikamaru tripped over a large root that he had not seen coming.

Coughing from the cloud of dust his movement created, Shikamaru began brushing his clothes free of dirt.

"Your family," Shikamaru stated, although he could feel a question coming. Neji could too apparently, as his whole body stiffened more so- if that was possible. "Whose side are they on? Did they assist in the coup?" he asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable at his own forwardness.

"No," Neji replied firmly, "The Hyuuga family is....was....a family of good reputation. Such base actions are thoroughly beneath us," he went on, his facial expression hardening, as if he was remembering something unpleasant. "I loved and respected my Monarchy. I intend to do everything to restore Suna to its former glory," the Captain finished.

Sensing that Neji was eager for the subject to close, Shikamaru did not press the matter further.

Walking a little more, his mind drifted to Temari. He felt his stomach lurch as he wondered if she was safe. The sun continued to burn brightly, lowly positioned in the sky, sending waves of red and pink light across the clouds as it persisted in its descent. Shikamaru had hoped to reach Suna before nightfall- he wanted to get to Temari as quickly as possible.

The more he thought about it, the more he was willing to drag her back to Konoha even if she was kicking and screaming. It made him feel physically sick to imagine that there were people out there intent upon hurting her.

So maybe he could not be with her; tell her he loved her, marry her instead of Ino- but he could make sure she was safe. She loved Suna, he knew that much and given that he would do anything to make her smile, Suna's restoration was as high up on his list of priorities as it was on Neji's.

"Where will we spend the night?" Shikamaru asked, breaking the silence as he eyed the darkening sky.

"There is an aid centre just on the outskirts of Suna," Neji replied authoritatively. "They have agreed to let us spend the night and restock on supplies," he continued. "I believe you know the owners," the solider stated, pointing to a small, solitary one story building that was spewing light out onto the dusty ground.

Shikamaru felt his breathing halt as he regarded the sign that stood humbly atop the building.

'The Akimichi Aid Centre'.


	13. Chapter 13

Hello everyone! :)

I hope you all are well- it's been a while! :S lol

Apologies for taking so long but if you read my most recent fic you would know that I was on hols. Either way, I feel kind of bad for giving you this chapter after such a long wait just because it's so quiet. A thinking chapter you might say. But it's only because all hell is going to break loose in the next couple of chapters so this is essentially the 'calm before the storm'.

Plus, I just have a penchant for writing young Shikamaru- spoilt as he may seem, lol.

Anywho, thank you for your patience and all the reviews for the last chapter! I really appreciate them in any form they come and I'm so happy to have over 100 :D:D You guys are seriously the best!

I should be back on my regular track- hopefully- but uni's starting back and I have an internship coming up, however I am determined to be dedicated again!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter- quiet as it may be and R&R to your (my) hearts content!:P

Thanks in advance and I do not own Naruto.

SP7 :D

* * *

Bursting out into the cold air around her, Temari breathed in and out heavily, trying to find a steady rhythm. Pacing back and forth, her chest heaved as she surveyed the starry sky above her, her eyes straining to see every one of the twinkling lights, yet with little purpose. Suna had always been beautiful at night time, even from the view of her bedroom window.

Temari had always surmised that when the world would finally fall down around her that there would be....noise. Blaring, unignorable _music._ Now, there was nothing but silence. Silence and her thoughts echoing throughout the quietness. It unnerved her more than she could possibly say.

Temari functioned in loudness. She could cope with the screaming and the shouting. But silence. Silence was the end of her.

It was ironic, she mused, tearing herself away from her previous thoughts. That everything else had changed so much and yet the stars had remained the same.

Temari had come up to the roof of the Palace- a place she had always dreamed of as a child- to get away from her thoughts. For the past few weeks she had thought of nothing but Suna, and now she wanted nothing more than to forget it.

This desert- it was odd- to her at least. It roused different emotions within her. Half of the time she felt desperate without it; without its heat, its dry wind, and its blindingly blue skies. Then the other half of the time, she wanted nothing more than to destroy the whole thing and to never have to look at it again.

She sighed.

Why couldn't she make up her mind?

It was nothing new- her indecision. But a few moments ago, she had been pacing the Palace's entrance hall, listening to the 'mitigating' stories of Naruto and Kiba. After hearing them swear loyalty to her and to Gaara at least a dozen times, she couldn't take it anymore and left. It was difficult to think when there were so many voices in her head.

Her mother's- telling her to trust.

Her father's-telling her to doubt.

And Gaara's?

Well, she didn't know what Gaara would tell her to do- if she did, she wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

She had ignored his reasoning just by running away from Konoha- but she had done that purely out of her own survival instinct. There was nothing to suggest that she had ran because of her disloyalty.

But now? Now, the fate of her country rested in her hands- the wrong hands- and if she was honest, she could not bring herself to banish two people who were claiming to be her subjects, when there were so few who would do the same.

Naruto.

Naruto had been easy enough to believe- honesty shone through his eyes like a light. He had ran from Suna because of her father's orders and hidden in an Aid Centre just outside of the country. Unable to fight for Suna but unwilling to fight against it. Therefore an enemy- in the eyes of both sides. Temari understood his position- Naruto did not think in the short term, but rather the distant future. If the war ended, and he had fought on Konoha's side, he would never be welcomed in Suna again.

For partialities sake, Temari was not Gaara. She was not pardoning Naruto because she liked the boy. To be honest, his ridiculous attitude had only dragged Kankuro further and further into his drunken depths, pulling any grain of reality her brother had once held with him. If for nothing else other than that, Temari did not like Naruto. The boy had a background that no one knew, yet never questioned; held an optimism quite astonishing for an orphan and a large amount of money that had accumulated from his parents- yet what did they do? Who were they to gain such wealth? It bothered Temari that no one ever asked these questions and yet somehow Naruto was so easily accepted into their society.

But, if Gaara trusted him, then Temari saw no reason to do otherwise. Gaara was nothing else if not shrewd.

But Kiba?

Kiba was a very different matter.

Kiba claimed to know nothing of his mother's disloyalty to her father's rule. It was now generally acknowledged that the Privy Council had been responsible for the revolt, and as she was one of the principal minds upon that Council- Temari believed, Gaara believed and Kankuro believed, that Kiba's mother had planned, if not lead, the revolution.

Kiba, apparently, did not dispute this fact. What he did differ over was his own involvement in the Queen's death.

It was hard for Temari to understand Kiba's line of thinking, to be honest.

Only four people in the Palace knew that the Queen would be living in Temari's bedroom; the King, the Queen herself, Temari and Kankuro.

Temari had not informed anyone of the fact.

Neither had her mother, and to suggest that her father had would have defeated the purpose of his scheme.

Kankuro, on the other hand, had told someone. Kiba, to be exact.

So, unless Kiba had shot the Queen himself, he passed the information onto someone else. Furthermore, Kiba knew where Temari's room was situated in the Palace- having been there himself. Yet, the boy was quite adamant about the fact that he had not told anyone about her father's scheme. So adamant, that he was willing to stake his life on it.

Yet, here was another point that troubled Temari. If Kiba was innocent, _then why did he run?_ After the revolution the boy had fled, abandoning all three of the royal children. If Kiba was so loyal, then why didn't he stay and help them fight?

Temari could not however, preach partiality this time. She wondered if she wanted Kiba to be guilty purely because she did not like the boy.

That was an understatement. Temari despised him.

She sighed again.

Temari could not think anymore for tonight. It would be stupid- if not completely deranged- to kill two boys who were asking to protect her and Hinata from the soliders and the paramilitaries. Temari had no gun and no form of weaponry to protect herself with and unless by some miracle Gaara showed up in Suna tonight, then she was pretty much stuck with her number one plan; let the boys live.

If nothing else- she could count on them to get rid of the quiet.

* * *

Shikamaru's eyes squinted naturally as the clinically bright light of the Aid Centre shone down upon him and his two companions. The buzzing of the light only further served to irritate his ears and his nostrils complained about the bleach clean smell of the shelter.

The place was- in a word, pristine. Even by his mother's standards.

The white walls only exaggerated the brightness of the overhead lights whilst the clean plastic surfaces around him practically gleamed as unabashedly as the sun.

It offended him, the shelter. From its surfaces and lights, right down to the paint. Shikamaru felt as though the place was waging a war on his senses and winning fast.

The door tingled shut as Tenten finally let go of it, and no sooner had the bell rang than another door slammed shut down a small corridor to their left and a petite woman with a blindingly white smock and trousers adorning her frame came scurrying to greet them.

Greet was perhaps an overly friendly term to use. She looked quite unhappy to see them.

Shikamaru blinked twice to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Alas, he wasn't. She had pink hair. He groaned inwardly- she was going to offend him too. He could tell.

The pink haired girl coughed lightly and bounced on the balls of her feet obviously expecting them to begin.

"Oh, yes," Neji said slightly awkwardly. "We're here to see Mr. Akimichi. He should know of our arrival," the soldier went on more confidently. "We're the delegates from Konoha."

The girl said nothing, but looked them all up and down slowly before scurrying away in the opposite direction.

Finally reaching a door at the end of the building, she wrenched the thing open.

"CHOZA," she yelled, as Shikamaru winced at the brash sound of her voice.

She then promptly shut the door, and strode confidently passed them not offering the three a second glance, before disappearing back into the door from which she had came.

Shikamaru turned to Neji with his mouth open, perhaps looking for some sort of explanation but thought better of it when he saw that the soldier was wearing the exact same expression as he imagined he was.

Tenten was glaring at the door.

They stood there quietly for a few moments, as Shikamaru tried to think of some logical course of action. Nothing came to mind.

All three of them jumped as the door on their right burst open, and a tall, robust man strode through it towards them.

"Neji, I presume," he said jovially when he reached them, holding out his hand to the soldier.

When Neji nodded and took his hand, the man's smile grew. "Akimichi Choza," he said, shaking Neji's hand vigorously. "I hope your journey went...."

The man trailed off as his eyes swung over to Shikamaru.

"Good God," he choked out, blinking a number of times. "It-it can't be," Choza went on in a disbelieving manner.

"Mr Akimichi," Shikamaru said, nodding politely but still in the dark as to why his appearance had caused such a stir.

"Shikamaru!" the stoutly man roared, picking him up and spinning him around. "You've grown so much since I last saw you! For a moment there I thought you were Shikaku," Choza said, finally setting a very embarrassed Shikamaru down and wiping his eyes.

"How are you, Sir?" Shikamaru said pressingly, hoping to distract Neji from the fact that he had essentially just been given a piggyback ride by his dad's best friend.

Shikamaru did not miss the significance of the motion Choza had visited upon him. He had always picked Shikamaru up and swung him around when he had been a child and had happened to stop by Choji's house. But that was then. He had quite enjoyed it as a child, but now he was seventeen and a great deal lazier since the last time Choza had seen him. Any form of excessive movement was unwelcome to him.

"Very well, thank you, m'boy," Choza said jovially, clapping Shikamaru proudly on the back. "I did not expect to see you here," he admitted, his geniality dying down as he spoke. "You've joined the army too then?"

Shikamaru shook his head, not bothering to point out that he wasn't wearing a uniform unlike his two travelling companions. Although, Shikamaru very rarely witnessed his father adorning the uniform which characterised his title and supposed that Choza maybe thought him to have taken after his parent.

"I'm not enlisted, Sir, but I am helping in the...." Shikamaru said before trailing off. He wasn't sure how much information had been divulged to the Aid Centre and how much he, himself was allowed to divulge. He decided it was safer to let Choza draw his own conclusions.

"Ah, I see," Choza interjected, his smile growing again. "Been dragged into another one of your father's schemes, have you, m'boy?" he asked, ruffling Shikamaru's hair affectionately, his past memories shining through his eyes brightly.

Still not sure how to reply, Shikamaru coughed slightly in response, hoping that this was the point where Neji interposed.

Another?

That was an odd choice of wording, Shikamaru thought as he fingered the revolver in his pocket. Had his father attempted something similar to this excursion before?

Deciding that that particular question wasn't going to be answered until he was alone with either Neji or his father, he ignored it for the moment.

"We are all here under the orders of General Nara," Neji said abruptly, in a tone that suggested that the matter wasn't up for discussion.

"Right," Choza continued happily, surveying them all under his intense gaze, "I expect you must be tired then, having come all the way from Konoha?"

Shikamaru was definitely ready for bed, and decided that he could ask after Choji in the morning. If he was honest with himself, his desire for sleep was more prominent at the moment than his wish to see his old friend.

Nodding profusely, he was however horribly disappointed when Tenten interrupted.

"Some food before bed, perhaps? If you have it, that is." the female said confidently, looking around the centre.

"Ah! Of course," Choza said apologetically. "We don't have much, but what we do have is filling," he said, smiling and wrapping his arm around Shikamaru's shoulder again. "This way, Konohanians," he sang loudly, pushing Shikamaru towards the door he had come from and opening it.

Once inside, Shikamaru was surprised to find very simple living quarters, that were in stark contrast to that of the Aid Centre's reception. The room was papered yellow, but the colour was so faded that it looked like the decoration had been done years ago. There was a small kitchen immediately to his left that was made out of worn wooden cabinets and scratched beige tiles. In the centre of the room sat a small square wooden table and three wooden chairs and behind them again were two metal beds made up with faded white sheets.

Yet, despite the condition of the room, the place felt homely. To Shikamaru at least. He could honestly say that he would be happier living here than his own house back in Konoha. Something about the room was very...warm. Lived in, was probably the phrase he was looking for.

He was hustled further into the room when Choza jolted him forward to make way for Neji and Tenten. Neji surveyed the room with a look of disinterest, whilst Tenten looked slightly forlorn. Their reactions didn't surprise Shikamaru. There wasn't much difference between the army barracks and this room save for maybe a few coats of paint.

"Sit, sit, sit," Choza said busily, breaking the silence and gesturing to the chairs that surrounded the tables.

After the aid worker had made sure that they were all suitably fixed for food, he sat down on the edge of one of the beds, and watched them all eating. Well, that was an exaggeration. In reality, he watched Shikamaru eating. The attention didn't make Shikamaru uncomfortable. He could tell his presence was making Choza sentimental.

Remembering that he had never truly learnt the reason why Choza and his family had left Konoha and the basis for the fact that he didn't speak to Inoichi and his dad anymore, Shikamaru made a mental note to find out what had happened from his father when he returned to Konoha.

Anytime he had asked why they had fallen out, his father simply replied that they hadn't.

**Flashback**

"Then why don't you speak to him anymore?" Eleven year old Shikamaru asked inquisitively, wondering why he had suddenly lost his best friend. The only thing...person that had made living in this town bearable.

"I know I could rely upon Choza for anything," Shikaku replied, not looking up from his morning paper. "And that's enough," he said with finality, turning the page.

**End Flashback**

Did giving Shikamaru and his comrades shelter during a trip to Suna count as 'anything', Shikamaru wondered. He couldn't be certain that Choza had spoken to his dad regarding their stay. It may have been a connection made by Neji. In any case, Choza had either not been expecting Shikamaru's presence amongst the group or had merely been stunned by his growth during the past six years.

Feeling his brain give a familiar twinge from weariness, Shikamaru decided to concentrate on eating.

Whilst he had been lost in his thought, he had heard Choza ask Neji a couple of contented questions, to which Neji responded with brief answers.

Silence settled in again, as the three of them continued to eat; Shikamaru too tired to talk, Neji too guarded and Tenten too disinterested.

"All finished?" Choza asked, after yawning widely.

Setting down their cutlery, all three of them nodded, as Shikamaru willed his eyes to stay open.

Choza nodded and stood, whilst Shikamaru, Neji and Tenten followed suit. The two soliders exited the room following a gesture from the aid worker, but as Shikamaru made to go after them he was stopped by an arm on his shoulder.

Puzzled, Shikamaru turned to face Choza. "He's on the roof," Choza said smiling slightly, and pointing to the set of winding stairs that let up to a trapdoor, before following the officers out of the room and shutting the door.

Deciding, unhappily so, that sleep could wait, Shikamaru trudged over to the metal stairs and clambered up them.

Pushing the trapdoor above his head open, Shikamaru peaked his head out into the night's sky.

His heart gave a pleasurable jump, as he witnessed his oldest, best friend lying on his back, arms curled behind his head, left leg crossed over his right, staring straight up at the twinkling stars.

Shikamaru smiled.

He had left an impression after all.

* * *

Lying down on her back, Temari let her eyes drift closed. Lack of energy had never been a problem for her, but now, Temari would give anything to be able to shut down her brain and sleep.

In truth, she had never before noticed the effect that being, what was essentially a 'sheltered' child had had upon her life. If people knew more than she did, that was no matter for even if she read enough books to fill the Palace someone would still be more intelligent than she was. If there were girls who were prettier than her, well-Temari could live with that. Beauty wasn't everything and if she was forced to marry someday, she would like to sicken her betrothed with her own ugliness. If someone had a greater knowledge of Suna than she did, Temari did not fret. It was only Suna. Not the world.

Yet, she had never been forced to think before...actually _think._ She was told things- absorbed and accepted them and then generally...in her own little form of rebellion, she rejected them as idiocy. Not because she disagreed with them, but because _she could_. Generally, she did it to prove that she still had control over her own mind.

But now, having spent the last few hours doing little other than thinking, Temari found her brain to be exhausted. She supposed that others did not find processing thoughts as fatiguing as she did, yet Temari could not list another activity that she had performed in her lifetime that left her whole body feeling this drained.

Her father had told her that he kept her locked away because she was _physically frail._ Before she had disagreed, yet perhaps he had been right?

Shaking her head free of doubt, she tried to decide what to do. She simply did not have the energy to yell at Kiba and Naruto anymore.

"Milady?" came a timid voice, as Temari heard the door swing open.

Resisting the urge to yell, she replied.

"Yes, Hinata?" she answered tiredly, not having to look to see who the trio sent to follow her up here. A bunch of brave men, those boys were.

"A-a-are you feeling quite well?" Hinata asked, still keeping her position by the door.

Temari nodded noiselessly, bringing her body up to a sitting position and curling her arms around her legs.

The silence carried on for a while, as Temari continued to stargaze, forcing herself to be distracted.

Yet the quiet was broken, by a familiar, wearying and disheartening sound. Hinata's sobs.

Doing her best to ignore the quiet anger building in her stomach, Temari kept her gaze trained on the brightness above her.

"P-p-please...please," Hinata whispered quietly, whilst Temari could tell from the tone of her voice that she was probably shaking.

Temari sighed audibly, still not looking at Hinata.

"I-I-I beg you, milady...please...don't," she sniffed, tears now pouring down her face.

"Don't what?" Temari cut across sharply, unable to contain her tension any longer. "Kill them?" she asked incredulously, "I'm surprised you thought me capable of it, Hinata," she snapped, feeling only slightly guilty for taking her anger out on Hinata. She was passed the point of futile emotions such as love, akin to the sentiment that Hinata held for Naruto, and surprisingly irked by Hinata's loyalty to the boy over her own country.

"I...never....milady...c-couldn't," the startled girl choked out incoherently, still sniffing loudly.

Temari took another calming breath. Had she been blessed with a younger sister then she might have more experience at dealing with Hinata's emotions. As it was, her two younger siblings were nothing less than emotional vacuums, thanks to father dearest. Tough love had been the only way to cheer them up when they were feeling unhappy. It couldn't be helped. It was what they were used to. Sometimes, Temari thought they craved it being generally uncomfortable with any form of exposed emotionality.

Feeling slightly ashamed for her anger but no less settled, Temari called the girl over to her feeling her whole body tense as soon as Hinata neared. She really didn't trust anyone, did she? As Hinata approached she practically forced herself into sal'at in an effort to keep her head lower than Temari's.

"Don't be ridiculous," Temari snapped, pulling Hinata up to her own level. Once the girl had settled herself properly, Temari turned her gaze back to the sky.

"Did you miss Suna, Hinata?" Temari asked, more for conversational purposes than any other reason. If they talked a little, it might put her aching head at rest.

Hinata nodded quickly and made a little mumble of concurrence.

"Did you miss it genuinely, or merely because it was where you believed Naruto to be?" she pressed pointedly, now turning her head to look at the girl.

Hinata said nothing, but continued to tremble a little in the cold air. As she opened her mouth to speak, Temari cut across her.

"_Don't _lie to me, Hinata," she stated, harshly. A little too harshly perhaps, but Temari was in no mood to drag truths out of people. She had been doing little else since she arrived in Suna.

"M-milady, I b-believe I would have been anxious to be wherever Naruto was," Hinata responded quietly, her eyes trained towards the floor.

Temari nodded, rubbing her head tensely.

"I'm not going to throw Naruto out," she said uncomfortably, practically feeling Hinata deflate upon hearing her words. "Nor Kiba," she added, "not tonight anyways."

Hinata nodded, bowing her head to her slightly.

"Thank you, Princess," Hinata said, her eyes shining with tears.

It was _almost _a normal conversation, Temari thought wearily, realising that the last time she had actually had a fulfilling discussion was with that Nara boy.

"M-milady is shivering," Hinata stated quietly, still not daring to look Temari in the eye. Realisation dawned upon Temari. Had she really been shivering? Feeling the goose bumps up and down her arms, she pulled the sleeves of her dress down, and attempted to rub some warmth back into her body.

"You go back inside, Hinata," Temari said, seeing what Hinata was driving at. "I'll be back in, in a minute," she continued confidently, leaving no room for argument. Not that she would have gotten any out of Hinata either way.

As Hinata extracted herself from the roof, Temari laid back down again. She wondered unhappily if she would ever love someone more than she did her own country. It might not even be that much of a stretch- she didn't love Suna all that much until she was away from it. Temari couldn't decide if loving someone over one's country would be a good thing either. She rubbed her head again- she was beginning to think it was easier when she had been locked in her room.

Temari remembered Kankuro telling her that their father said they should mourn for the fact that they only had one life to give for their country.

She chuckled a little- Suna was not worth one of her lives.

_There_ was the old Temari, she thought smiling.

Deciding that she would love herself first and foremost above any man or country, Temari stood up feeling pleasantly happier and consequently much lighter as she made her way back into the main Palace.

Finding her three subjects stationed in what used to be the old kitchens, Temari strode in confidently and hopped up onto one of the old, beaten down counters. After all three of them had bowed to her, she grinned back at them.

"Tea, milady?" Hinata asked, shyly gesturing to the blackened pot and utensils.

"Yes, thank you Hinata," Temari answered, her grin growing wider as her eyes passed over Naruto and Kiba who were now both looking quite disconcerted. "Tea would be lovely."

She may not have to put any man before herself, Temari thought contentedly, but Naruto and Kiba definitely had to put her before themselves.

Oh yes, if they intended to stay in this Palace they were going to have to work for it. And Temari intended to make sure their devotion to her was extremely...resolute.

* * *

"Chip?" Choji asked nonchalantly, his eyes still trained on the sky.

"How did you know I was here?" Shikamaru asked, clambering onto the roof and slightly surprised at his friend's intuitiveness.

"Heard dad yelling," came the simple reply, as Shikamaru let out a light chuckle.

"It's been a while," Choji said, as Shikamaru sat down beside him as if the last time he had seen his best friend had been yesterday.

"Six years," Shikamaru confirmed, raising his head to look at the stars, which were almost as good as the clouds.

"I was talking about the chips," Choji said grinning. "Haven't had salt in about four years," he continued, surveying the snack in his hands.

"I can tell," Shikamaru said, noting the boys much thinner frame. Choji was still bulky. He wasn't thin. He was just thin_ner_.

Choji laughed. "When you have to share your food with ten people every night, you tend to lose weight," he replied, passing the chip bag to Shikamaru. "Dad only breaks them out on special occasions," he continued in explanation.

So Choza knew he was coming.

"I probably haven't had salt since you left either," Shikamaru said conversationally, resisting the urge to probe Choji for how much he knew about the current situation.

"Your mum's still on about your health, eh?" his friend asked, as Shikamaru swallowed down the snack that he hadn't realised he had missed until he ate it.

"Mm hmm," Shikamaru replied, chewing appreciatively.

"Still only allowed a thousand calories a day?" Choji asked lightly, reminding Shikamaru of his mother's strict old eating regimes.

"Nah, it went up to two thousand," he replied, smirking at Choji, who laughed in response.

"How are they? You know- your parents and all?" Choji questioned, swivelling his body around to face Shikamaru properly.

"The same, really," Shikamaru said in a half truth. "Not much difference except that Dad's got grey hairs and mum's gotten thinner," he continued, contrasting the image of his old parents with that of his young parents, whilst adopting the same position as Choji. "How's your mum?"

Choji made a non-committal sound in the back of his throat.

"She died..." he said quietly, "About four years ago now," he continued abruptly, not looking at Shikamaru.

"Choji...." Shikamaru said, lost for what to say yet remembering the two metal beds downstairs. "I'm sorry. No one ever told me," he said, more to himself than Choji, wondering how his father had kept this from him.

"It's okay," Choji responded. "It makes sense that you didn't know. Army Officers got her when she tried to stop them from taking a girl back to Konoha with them," he continued, as Shikamaru let the information sink in. "Dad asked Shikaku not to come to the funeral. He did anyway, though," Choji finished, making a pitiful attempt to look as if he was fine.

"Oh," was all Shikamaru could think to say.

"What about Ino and Asuma?" Choji asked in a voice that blatantly said he was trying to change the topic. "How are they?"

"Eh....Asuma's the same, since you left," he replied, remembering the lessons that Choji and Shikamaru used to share. Much less political than they were now.

"Still raging against the machine?" Choji prodded, smiling widely.

Shikamaru nodded, now grinning as well. "He still won't admit that he's got that Anarchy tattoo," he said, reminding his old friend of the days when they were desperate to see Asuma's arms just to prove they were right about his body art.

"How can he still be wearing long sleeved shirts?" Choji asked, incredulously, as the two of them laughed simultaneously. "And Ino?" he furthered, after their laughter had died down.

"Blonder," was Shikamaru's brief response.

"You two still getting married?" his friend asked, obviously recalling the day when Shikamaru had found out about his betrothal.

**Flashback**

"Here," said the ten year-old Shikamaru, thrusting the revolver towards Choji. "Take my dad's gun and just shoot me. Shoot me now. Get it over with," he moaned, dramatically.

"Shikamaru, it won't be that bad," Choji replied nervously, not very comfortable with possessing a weapon. "She'll make you dinner every day," his friend said, in what was obviously his description of 'the bright side'.

"But the maids do that anyway!" Shikamaru said, gesturing towards the rifle. "I don't need _her_ to do it for me."

"Shikamaru, Ino's nice," Choji said, smiling as he put the gun down on Shikamaru's bedside table.

"She's troublesome," he replied decidedly.

"She's pretty," Choji went on, appreciatively, now sitting beside the distraught boy.

"She's an idiot," Shikamaru moaned, rubbing his eyes with his hands and wondering how much he'd have to pay his Dad to get him out of this one.

"She's not _that_ bad. I mean...she's not amazingly smart," Choji said defensively, "but no one is by your standards, Shikamaru!"

"Choji, she stopped taking lessons with Asuma because she said he looked like an unwashed dog!" Shikamaru responded, as if that settled the matter of Ino's intelligence.

"Well, he doesn't shave that often, does he?" Choji mitigated, as Shikamaru threw him a look.

"My _Dad _doesn't shave," Shikamaru pointed out, "and he still looks fine."

"Alright, alright," Choji said exasperatedly, "but I'm _not _shooting you," he said, glaring at Shikamaru. "Hey!" he said, after a few moments of silence. "Maybe if you told Ino she was fat, she'd do it for you!"

**End Flashback**

Shikamaru nodded, as Choji's face broke into a wide smile.

"Still trying to find a way out of it?" he asked, looking around for the chip bag.

"No," Shikamaru replied, handing Choji the bag. "Too troublesome. Just easier to accept it really," he lied, wondering if he should tell Choji about Temari.

"That doesn't sound like you," Choji responded, before stuffing a few chips into his mouth. "You always have a plan," he said, gulping down the snack.

Shikamaru smiled a little. Choji was right. He always used to have a plan for getting them out of things. Homework, eating Mrs. Akimichi's casserole, having to play tea-party with Ino. Now, he seemed to be wandering aimlessly, just hoping to stumble upon the right direction for his life. He knew he wanted it to contain Temari- but going to Suna like this- and bringing her back, well, it didn't guarantee anything.

"My dad-," Choji said hesitantly, breaking the silence, "my dad says you're staying here because you're going after....Temari," he finished, looking a little too wide eyed for Shikamaru's liking.

"You know her?" he asked disbelievingly.

Choji shook his head.

"I know......_of_ her," he replied, in a manner that made Shikamaru sure that the Akimichi's knew something that they weren't telling anyone.

"She was 'working' for us," Shikamaru explained, making sure that Choji knew what he meant by 'working'. "My dad was trying to keep her safe," he went on, incoherently, not exactly sure how to tell Choji the whole story.

"From the Akatsuki," Choji said, nodding.

"Yeah, well, the Akatsuki bombed Konoha about two days ago, and she ran back to Suna...we think," Shikamaru said, trying to get it all straight in his own head. "And now, we have to bring her back, in case they get her," he finished, looking at Choji for some idea of how he knew so much.

"You mean the army?" Choji furthered, as Shikamaru realised his mistake.

He nodded in response, awaiting Choji's next question.

"Then why are you going? If you're not in the army, I mean," he asked pointedly.

Shikamaru sighed. "I want to make sure she's okay," he said, noting that this was not in actuality a lie.

Choji said nothing for a few moments.

"I've heard she's quite pretty," he said, out of the blue.

"She is," Shikamaru replied evasively, after a few moments, yet annoyed at the small smirk now curling on Choji's mouth.

"Smart, too" Choji went on, now looking at the night sky and failing to hide his full blown grin.

Shikamaru swallowed and said nothing.

"What?" he asked, slightly aggressively, as Choji continued to grin irritatingly.

"Oh, nothing," Choji replied idly. "Just that, well, I was your best friend for eleven years and not once did you trip the whole way out here to see me," he said knowingly. "I've never really known you to put yourself out for anyone, actually," he continued, passing Shikamaru the chip bag back. "It's kind of odd to see you coming all the way out here, just for some girl," Choji finished, leaving the unsaid question hanging in the air, as Shikamaru realised that he suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.

"She's not...just some girl," Shikamaru answered quietly. "She's a Princess, Choji" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, scratching the back of his head.

"So?" Choji said indignantly, lying down on his back again. "She's not related to you," he went on pointedly, "you don't owe her anything."

"It's for the stability of Konoha and Suna," Shikamaru mitigated, again, mimicking Choji's stance. "If they kill her, all hell will break loose."

"Since when have you cared about politics?" Choji replied calculatingly. "You always used to think Asuma was an idiot for involving himself in any of those things," he said reminiscently, tracing circles with his palms on the floor. "You never used to keep things from me either," he added quietly.

Shikamaru stretched out on the roof, trying to relieve some of the tension building in his back whilst attempting to think of how to give Choji the answers that he was looking for.

"Choji...have you ever had to make a choice between what is right and what will make you happy?" he asked, not completely changing the subject.

"Sometimes," Choji replied vaguely. "I remember dad telling me I could stay in Konoha and live with you, if I wanted," he said musingly. "But, it would've hurt mum too much to be apart from me...and I wanted to help with what my dad was doing too. As much as it would have made me happy to stay with you and Ino and Asuma, I ended up doing what I thought was right," he finished easily, coughing a little from the dust cloud he was now creating with his hands.

"And, are you happy now?" Shikamaru furthered, turning his head to look at Choji.

"I'm not _unhappy_," he responded, yawning a little. "I mean, maybe if we had stayed in Konoha, we wouldn't have lost mum, and I would still know everything about you and could eat as much as I liked every day," he continued, grinning over at Shikamaru. "But here...well, we help people here. Some who wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for my dad," he went on thoughtfully. "I guess I like knowing that I'm helping," he finished wisely. "Why?"

Shikamaru sighed, knowing that now Choji had confided in him, he would have to do the same.

"If I marry Ino," he started somewhat abruptly, "I'd be making other people happy. My mum, my dad, Ino and her parents. But not really me," he said disjointedly. "I think I could live here with you quite happily," Shikamaru mused. "I don't actually _care_ about anything back in Konoha. Not the rituals or the ceremonies or the society. I wouldn't miss it if it were gone," he said, pausing slightly in the midst of all his thoughts. "I care about Temari," he finished as abruptly as he had started, leaving Choji to make of that statement what he would.

Choji, however, was denied his chance to reply as a huge metallic bang erupted from the centre below.

They both sat up and looked at one another.

"What was that?" Shikamaru asked, glancing towards the trapdoor.

"I don't know, but we better go down and see," Choji replied, heaving himself up off the floor and walking towards the trapdoor, as Shikamaru followed.

As they made their way into the reception, voices that were shouting loudly and aggressively echoed through the door.

Opening the door, Shikamaru jumped at the presence of another unknown person in the hallway. The pink haired girl was yelling loudly over everyone...something about 'order' and 'people trying to sleep', whilst Tenten was loading her rifle. Choza, on the other hand, was looking quite distressed, obviously in response to the fact that some boy with light brown hair and a large frame was holding Neji by the neck and continuously slamming him into the wall.

"Where are they, you traitorous, army, Konoha fucks?!" the boy roared aggressively, raising his fist to punch Neji.

"Kankuro!" came Choza's deep bellow. "That is enough!" he snapped preventing the boy from completing the motion.

Choji turned to look at Shikamaru guiltily.

"I was _going _to tell you," he said quietly, as Shikamaru witnessed Choza wrenching the boy off of Neji and throwing him onto the floor.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey guys,

sorry for the long wait on the update but some really crappy stuff happened on my internship- involving me and a court judge calling me into the dock!:P lol, nothing too horrendous but traumatic all the same:p

Either way, I hope you like this chapter! Please please please review! It makes my little criminal mind spin with glee! :D

Thanks again,

SP7

* * *

Shikamaru surveyed the scene in front of him. Really, if he was to be completely realistic, he should be panicking a lot more than he was. At the moment anyways.

However, he found himself to be oddly calm considering that some crazed man wrapped in bandages was currently attempting to beat the hell out of Neji...and the Akimichi's didn't seem to be doing too much to stop him. Well, whilst Choza was attempting to restrain the boy physically, he seemed to be able to do little concerning the boy's bloodlust towards Neji.

Neji, himself, was sitting down against the wall, breathing heavily and coughing a little. Shikamaru looked to Tenten for some form of explanation-who gave none. The lieutenant- having abandoned any attempts of gunmanship had not yet however let go of her grip on the rifle, preferring instead to use it as a prop to lean against whilst she continued to glare profusely at Neji's attacker.

Shikamaru switched his gaze to the attacker. Squinting a little, he was shaken by an odd feeling in his stomach. Did he know this boy from somewhere?

He was definitely Sunan, in that he was completely tanned yet not sunburnt; a complexion that one only achieves after having lived their life in the desert. The boy's nose was slightly familiar to Shikamaru and maybe the aggressiveness of his hair- it looked like it was trying to escape from his head- but after that it all went haywire. His eyes were completely unrecognisable and his jaw line in general was an odd shape that Shikamaru had never encountered before.

Shikamaru had to admit, he was slightly unnerved by the boy. Observing him did little to preserve his calm disposition in that the boy seemed to be radiating anger. He was breathing heavily through his nostrils and his fists were clenched so tightly that Shikamaru was surprised Choza was keeping a hold of him. A lesser man would not have managed such a feat.

What did Choza say his name was? 'Kankuro?' Had he heard that somewhere before?

The petite girl with the pink hair was now whispering into the boys ear and Shikamaru was slightly relieved to see that he seemed to be taking note of what she was saying; immediately his whole breathing slowed and he shrugged a little after which Choza let go of him.

Tenten picked up her rifle again.

"There now, Kankuro," Choza said nervously, patting the boy on the shoulders. "Let's all just take a moment to calm down," he went on, eyeing Tenten who reluctantly swung her rifle back down to the ground.

Kankuro took a step forward towards Neji, whose hand immediately went for his gun.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Kankuro said in a gruff voice, his hands clenching again. "J-j-just...I-I need to know...tell me that she's okay," he finally finished loudly, his eyes boring into Neji, as the pink haired girl stepped forward to place her hand on Kankuro's shoulder again. He took little notice of it, his eyes never wavering from Neji's.

Neji nodded, looking a little unsure of what to say.

"She's alive," he said finally, as Kankuro breathed a sigh of relief obviously not differentiating between being alive and being unharmed.

"Where is she?" Kankuro furthered tentatively, now looking from Neji to Tenten with what Shikamaru might have characterised as hope.

The two soliders glanced at each other uneasily. Kankuro's expression hardened upon seeing this exchange and Shikamaru swore he almost saw the boy gnash his teeth.

"Who are they talking about?" Shikamaru whispered to Choji, whose eyes were trained solidly upon the scene before him. Surmising that he wasn't going to get an answer out of his best friend, he turned his head back just in time to see Kankuro taking another step toward Neji.

"Where. Is. She?" Kankuro breathed, his nostrils now flared as Choza took a step towards the boy and Tenten once again moved for her gun.

Neji remained silent yet his expression showed him to be thinking at a rapid speed. The soldier's brow furrowed, as he sighed and his eyes flickered over to meet Shikamaru's.

Shikamaru wondered what Neji was trying to communicate to him, when he realised that Tenten's eyes were also trained upon him. Looking back to Kankuro, his eyes widened as he saw the boy follow the soldier's gazes towards him.

As Shikamaru felt his neck buckle under the pressure of the colossal hand that was now grasping it, he mused that it was ironic- how his whole life he had been admired for his quick thinking skills and yet the one time he actually needed those skills; needed his brain to tell him to dodge as soon as he saw the bulky Sunan hurtling towards him, it had failed him.

Feeling his head crack into the back of the wall of the Aid Centre, Shikamaru realised that he could now say with relative certainty- he was panicking.

* * *

Shikaku rubbed his forehead for what felt like was the fiftieth time that day. Sighing again, he realised that even after attempting to sooth his persistent headache, it still plagued his body making it very difficult to talk much less argue with his wife.

"It's _you_," Yoshino hissed venomously, glaring at him through her bright brown eyes. "_You_ never wanted him to get married. _You_ were never keen on the idea. And your solution? To pack him off to that war torn, God forsaken land," she went on, prodding him in the chest, "just to escape his _life_. His life, Shikaku! Not yours! Did the boy even want to go!?" she finished drastically, throwing her hands in the air.

"Dear..." he began, until a hiss from his wife told him that that was the wrong way to start. "Yoshino, it's not about what I want, or what Shikamaru wants. It's about what is best for Konoha," Shikaku continued, attempting to get his wife to see the big picture. He paused for a moment to study Yoshino's expression, looking for clues that it was wise to continue. The contemplative visage suggested it was. "I agreed to this marriage..." Yoshino suddenly looked ravenous again, "...but I did not agree to Shikamaru shirking his duties to his country, Yoshino," the solider went on, looking out through the long drawing-room windows and into the garden; praying that wherever his boy was- he was safe. "I am not trying to pull him away from Ino. I am well aware of what I agreed to and I intend for the marriage to be followed through. Shikamaru knows that, Yoshino. But he also needs to know that when he marries Ino, that he is not just a husband. He is a citizen of Konoha and he needs to make an impact," Shikaku finished meaningfully.

Yoshino sighed heavily, before making her way over to the bureau in the corner of the room and wiping it with her hand, mumbling something about dust and lax standards.

Shikaku followed her over and placed his hands over her shoulders, attempting to sooth his distressed wife.

"He will be fine, dear," he said quietly, hoping that he was more successful at convincing his wife of the fact than he was of himself. "He's a smart boy," Shikaku finished, wondering whether his quest to reform Konoha would cost him the life of his own son.

Yoshino swallowed, and Shikaku could tell she was blinking back tears. He smirked a little. The only time he had ever seen her come this close to crying was when Shikamaru, aged ten, had went missing for twelve hours and no one could find him. She was so angry when she found out he had merely fallen asleep in a tree.

"Well," she said briskly, shrugging Shikaku's hands off of her shoulders, "that wedding isn't going to plan itself. I wonder if Ino has finally decided on a china pattern. I swear that girl has no idea how to handle herself," she muttered, busying herself with a flower arrangement on the bureau before walking out of the room. But not before yelling at him to tuck his shirt in.

Shikaku sighed appreciatively, glad to finally have some quiet and settled himself on the couch, ready for a nice long nap in the warm sunlight. His eyes snapped open suddenly however when he heard a loud bang echo in from the hallway. Praying that the Akatsuki hadn't returned, he sat up, straining to make out the yelling voices that were sailing through his house.

He jumped slightly when the door to the drawing room swung open furiously and in marched a red headed boy with a glint in his eyes that suggested that a large number of people were about to die.

Shikaku wasn't sure whether to kneel or stand for he knew from Inoichi's descriptions and the way the boy held himself exactly who he was. Shikaku also hadn't missed the way Inoichi marched into the room after the Sunan Royal, looking a great deal more than flustered.

"Shikaku," Inoichi began apologetically, placing his hand on Gaara's shoulders, "there's a problem...." he trailed off as Gaara glanced over his shoulder.

"If I were you, I would take your hand off of me," the red head hissed, breathing calmly before turning back to face Shikaku as Inoichi removed his hand gingerly. "I would like to see my sister," he said after a pause during which he studied Shikaku's face with an uncomfortable intensity.

Shikaku moved his eyes to Inoichi who looked at him with meaningful eyes. Unsure of how to answer, he tried to think of a way to pacify the heir in a way that Inoichi had not been able to.

"That look on your face," Gaara spoke, dangerously quietly, "suggests to me that I may not see my sister. I would like to advise you that it would be in your best interests to tell me that this is not because she is currently in Suna," he finished, narrowing his eyes and Shikaku reeled to think that just moments ago he had been close to cowering because of his wife.

"Gaara," Shikaku began uneasily, before stopping noticing the look of danger on Inoichi's face and the sharp breath that the red head had expelled. "Your Highness," he continued, now on more sure footing of how to handle the situation. The heir thought that they were treating him like a child; keeping him out of the loop so to speak, when they had promised him that they would do the exact opposite. "We have sent someone after her and..." he stopped again as Gaara took a short step towards him, looking eerily calm with a questioning look in his eyes.

"Temari is in Suna," Shikaku confirmed unhappily, looking to Inoichi whose eyes had closed in exasperation.

Gaara swallowed, his nostrils flared but other than that looking completely at ease.

Coughing lightly, Inoichi began.

"I realise that this looks bad," he said, addressing the red head, "but I assure you, we are doing everything in our power to get your sister back into Konohanian territory. We have sent two of our most highly trained operatives after her..."

"Who?" Gaara cut in sharply, his posture slightly more relaxed.

"Hyuuga Neji and..." Shikaku trailed off, as Inoichi closed his eyes again- his forehead wrinkled thoroughly, and Gaara's fists clenched beyond all comprehension. Shikaku realised his mistake quickly as Gaara finally swivelled around to face Inoichi. Although the young boy was not as tall as his comrade, the rigidness of his posture made it look as though Inoichi was cowering in comparison.

"Neji is on our side," Inoichi mitigated quickly, taking a step back from the red head who was currently very close for comfort. "I assure you, neither Shikaku nor I would have sent him after Temari were we not absolutely sure of the boy's allegiances," he finished confidently, looking Gaara in the eyes solidly.

Seeing Gaara lower his head slightly, in what Shikaku assumed was contemplation, he marvelled at Inoichi's skills. It must have taken a great deal to get the young King to trust him.

"And who?" Gaara asked again, moving himself so as to view both men.

"Lieutenant Tenten and my son, Shikamaru," Shikaku stated, surprised at the mildly staggered look that now graced Gaara's face, yet quickly looking to Inoichi for an indication if he had offended the boy. His friend gave none, but Shikaku did not miss small wry smile that now stood upon his lips.

"What?" Shikaku asked dumbly, yet more surprised still at the fact that Gaara was now completely relaxed, looking actually calm as opposed to the eerie quiet he had displayed earlier.

"Your son is in love with the Princess," Inoichi stated, now smiling ironically at Shikaku, who resisted the urge to roll his eyes. All of his daughter's life Shikaku had been able to poke fun at Inoichi for the ridiculous crushes and ideals that Ino sported. He was sure that Inoichi was now delighted to have revenge upon his friend for his son's own youthful folly.

"I am aware," Shikaku replied dryly, although not without smiling himself. He could not deny that his son's first furore in to love was certainly an interesting one.

"You smile," Gaara said, as Shikaku marvelled at the boy's ability to instantly bring tension into a room, "but you did not see the look in your son's eyes. This is not merely a youthful indiscretion," he went on, matter-of-factly, "but true love," he finished, as Shikaku watched Inoichi take in the seriousness of that statement. Shikaku himself had never had any trouble doubting the validity of his son's affections towards the Princess.

"Your son will take care of my sister," the heir assured them, alerting Shikaku to the possibly fatalistic devotion that Shikamaru was harbouring. He had not thought of the possibility that perhaps Shikamaru would die for the girl.

Inoichi nodded resolutely, before turning to face Gaara.

"And?" he asked mysteriously in a very gracious manner.

"You have provided me with satisfactory answers to my questions, therefore, I will not go to the Hokage," Gaara began, as Inoichi breathed a sigh of relief. "However, I should alert you to the fact that if my sister is not back in Konoha within two days at the latest, there will be consequences," he finished, as Shikaku finally became aware of why Inoichi was so flustered, and the terrible wager that Gaara held above their heads.

Should things not plan out the way the heir wished they would, he was in full knowledge of Shikaku's plans for Konoha and thus fully able to divulge their plans to the current Hokage, perhaps in some sort of bargain to secure his family's safety.

Shikaku sighed in stress. He had severely underestimated the young King.

"Well, we should be off," Inoichi stated, breaking the unwelcome silence. "Don't want to be late for dinner," he said, moving over to Gaara and clapping him on the back. The boy no longer protested the intrusion, but merely began moving towards the door. "Ino doesn't like to eat past five," Inoichi explained jovially, obviously happy to have the red head back on their side.

"You should stop lying about that, Inoichi," Shikaku began, smirking to himself. "We're all aware that Ino doesn't eat anything at all."

Inoichi stopped in his paces and turned to face Shikaku with a vindictive glint in his eyes.

"Tell me Shikaku, does Shikamaru cry himself to sleep at night because of his unrequited love?" he asked, holding in his cackles, as even Shikaku witnessed the small smirk that Gaara was sporting.

Shikaku chose not to answer, knowing that there was no way he could win against the arsenal of jokes that Inoichi was probably thinking up about his son as he was standing there.

He sighed in defeat, as Inoichi waved a taunting goodbye to him before following the boy out of the room.

* * *

"What do you think, Hinata?" Temari asked in fake curiosity, as she and her three comparisons surveyed the wreck that was the Entrance Hall of the Desert Palace.

"I-I-It looks....l-l-looks....." Hinata stuttered, obviously both unsure of how to answer and not used to being asked her opinion.

"It looks awful!" Naruto interjected brightly, looking to Temari for some indication that this was the right answer.

Temari witnessed Kiba rolling his eyes, and held back the urge to punch him. Conceited, arrogant, little....

"You are absolutely right, Naruto," Temari stated, the irony barely tainting her voice, and going unnoticed by her loyal subjects, especially Naruto who beamed back at her. "It looks terrible," she stated in mock concern, shaking her head dramatically. "You know, it hurts me, Naruto, it really does," Temari went on, noting with vindictive glee the fact that Kiba had now cottoned on to her ridicule, "to see my home...like....like this," she stuttered, as she sniffed, seeing also that Hinata was now looking morbidly frightened.

"Princess, please do not cry," Naruto said comfortingly, placing a hand on Temari's back, as she tried her best not to stiffen, "everything will be fine, won't it guys?" he asked, addressing Hinata and Kiba and still missing their expressions of distress. "We'll clean it up for you Princess, and it will look as good as new!"

"Naruto," Temari said dramatically, attempting not to laugh at her own theatricality, "you don't know how much that means to me," she finished, sniffing. "I think the best way to begin, would be to light a fire in that barrel," she went on, indicating the apparel which was currently lying on its side, "and to throw the debris into it."

"Excellent idea, Princess!" Naruto stated excitedly, bouncing over to the barrel. "Alright, men!" he said, looking to Hinata and Kiba. "You heard the Princess, let's get to it!"

Temari gave Kiba a sickeningly sweet smile as he nervously made his way over to the barrel, followed by Hinata, who looked close to tears. After waiting patiently for the trio to rouse a fire in the barrel, Temari watched sadistically as Naruto happily chucked the wreckage into it.

Sighing lackadaisically, a motion that Kiba and Hinata did not miss, she sashayed her way over to the group, bending down to pick up a piece of cloth as she went.

Noticing her close to the fire, Naruto jumped.

"Princess! You will get your hands dirty," he said with concern, moving over to Temari. "You need rest. Let us do the work," the blonde went on brightly and smiling at Temari encouragingly.

Temari gave him back the widest smile she could possibly muster without cracking her jaw.

"Oh, Naruto," she said lightly, noticing that both Kiba and Hinata had stopped moving to watch her actions. "You are so considerate," Temari went on amiably, as the boy continued to beam at her. "Would you burn this for me?" she asked sweetly, as Naruto's response came automatically, and Hinata gasped audibly when she saw what Temari was holding.

"Of course, Princess!" he replied happily. "Give it here and I'll......"

The boy trailed off, finally noticing the item that Temari was holding out to him. His eyes widened and Temari felt her stomach contract in merciless joy.

Naruto looked up to her with his blue eyes as wide as saucers, and a distressed look in them.

"W-w-wh-what....." he stuttered, with an air of disbelief.

Temari cackled inwardly. He thought...prayed more like, that she was joking, or had perhaps not noticed what she was holding.

Naruto Uzumaki was about to see what being a loyal servant to her, Gaara and Suna _really_ entailed.

"Burn. It." She hissed venomously, thrusting the cloth out towards the boy, who had swallowed when he realised she was serious.

She could hear Hinata crying.

"Princess..." she heard Kiba interject, in a torn voice.

"Be quiet," Temari spat, her eyes never wavering from Naruto's, as Kiba closed his mouth in defeat.

Temari smiled dangerously when she saw Naruto eyes shrink in a mixture of sorrow and sickness.

"Yes, Princess," he said in a hollow voice, taking the cloth from her softly and moving towards the embers.

Hearing the flames roar up and engulf the ragged cloth that was the Konohanian flag, Temari moved her eyes from Naruto's solemn face, to Kiba's, who was looking at her with a look of complete disgust.

Go on, she thought as she gazed upon Kiba's hardened visage.

_Give me an excuse, Inuzuka, because it's all I need. _

She smirked a little in callous happiness at her vindictive suppression when Kiba kept his silence. He wasn't getting off that easily.

"Kiba?" she called airily, knowing full well that the boy was still looking at her. "Where is that mutt of yours?" she asked, attempting to keep the snarl out of her voice.

Kiba's eyes narrowed as Hinata's widened in a desperate plea.

"What?" she asked Hinata, sweetly. "You wouldn't want your Princess to go hungry, now would you, Hinata?" she said maliciously.

Kiba swallowed.

"He's dead," the boy said vacantly. "Apologies, Princess," he went on with a fake graciousness, "but the Akatsuki already caught and ate him, so I'm afraid that we'll have to find alternate dinner plans for tonight," Kiba finished bitterly, when Temari noticed that his eyes were shining with tears.

Temari felt her stomach lurch unpleasantly. She looked from the faces of Hinata who was sobbing steadily, to Kiba who quite honestly looked unbearably defeated, to Naruto who still hadn't raised his eyes from the burning flag.

She swallowed trying to keep down her own vomit when the realisation of what she had been about to ask Kiba to do hit her like a bolt.

Kiba walked soundlessly out of the Entrance Hall and for a moment Temari thought that he was leaving, but instead he turned into a hallway and disappeared down it.

They were left with the sound of Hinata crying.

Temari felt her gaze drift to the fire as her eyes got lost in the flames; the warmth of them making her feel heady and dizzy. She felt tears prick at her eyes. She was always so scared that her father was catching up to her. That she could never truly escape who she was- who she was destined to become- to turn into. The cruelty of her actions pressed deeply into her brain and she suddenly realised how faint she was feeling. How much she wanted her mother.

Her mother would never have let her act so despicably.

Temari had always felt balanced between the fiery stubbornness of her father and the calm grace of her mother. Now more than ever she could feel her mother's tranquillity slipping away as her father's hate and anger coursed through her at a rapid pace.

She was snapped out of her reverie as a hand was placed on her shoulder. She wiped her cheeks furiously when she felt that she had actually been crying and that Naruto and Hinata were now looking at her, both with some form of sympathy.

Sniffing derisively, she turned to see Kiba's right hand clasped on her shoulder- the other holding....

Her Crown.

Temari almost choked on her own tears; her grief and joy at seeing the jewel again juxtaposed by her resistance to appearing weak in front of Kiba.

Kiba pushed the treasure into her shaking hands as she looked at him, hoping that the emotion that was raging in her heart was not translating onto her face.

"I kept it under the floorboards," Kiba said finally, in a low voice. "I-I wouldn't let them take it," he managed to strangle out. He raised his face to look her in the eyes and Temari almost jolted again as she felt a genuine emotion pour out of them. "I figured it was yours," he went on shakily. "It wouldn't look right on anyone else," the boy finished in a whisper, now holding back tears himself.

Unsure of what to say, Temari felt her hands flow freely over the Crown, feeling all the little indentations and crusted jewels slide seamlessly underneath her fingers.

Looking down at the Crown, she smiled weakly.

Her mother had returned to her when she needed her most.

* * *

"You!" Kankuro bellowed, as Shikamaru felt his brain slip away from consciousness. "You tell me where my sister is! I swear if you laid a hand on her, you perverted little shit, I will..."

The concerned sibling trailed off as Shikamaru vaguely recognised Choza's voice saying something. He slid down the wall, mimicking Neji's earlier position and tried to cough of some of the blood that he felt congealing in his mouth.

His vacant, dazzled eyes saw a hand wave in front of them, and his ears registered Choji speaking to him slowly- although what he was saying they could not make out. After a while he felt someone push some water into his mouth, and whilst he protested the coppery taste it sported after being mixed with his blood, he was grateful for the cool liquid, which seemed to restore some of his perception.

Blinking slightly, he looked up to see Neji talking calmly to Kankuro, who was looking gobsmacked.

"I'm going with you," the boy spoke urgently, clasping Neji on the shoulder and looking him in the eyes earnestly.

Neji shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but that will not be possible," Neji began strongly, as Kankuro growled in irritation. "I understand that it frustrates you greatly, my Lord, but surely you must see the risks of bringing you out into the desert when there are only three of us here to protect you," the solider said significantly. "The reason that General Nara felt that it was best that you stay here, was due to the necessary evil that this situation puts us in. We must keep you and your siblings separate. To keep you altogether would make you sitting ducks for the Akatsuki to hunt down, all too easily," Neji finished, now staring back at Kankuro with the same earnestness that the boy had shown before.

Shikamaru's brain attempted to make some sort of explanation of this information.

He was now in no doubt as to whom the boy was and was berating himself for being so stupid as to not recognise him. His recognisable features were all those that belonged to Temari. Granted they all looked a lot prettier on the Princess, but they were there all the same.

This also meant that Shikaku knew that the young Prince was here. He must have been communicating with Choza in ways that Shikamaru was unaware of. But that was nothing unusual. His Dad usually played his cards close to his chest.

"So, my dad knew that Kankuro was here?" Shikamaru asked Choji, finally finding his voice again.

"Apparently," Choji replied dryly, now eyeing his dad with a mild disapproval.

Shikamaru nodded. Maybe Choji wasn't any more informed than he was.

"I promised," Kankuro began with purpose, "I promised Gaara- when he said he was going to go to Konoha- I promised him that I would look after Temari. I love my sister, solider," he went on, his jaw clenched, "but she is irrational and liable to say or do something stupid that would get her killed," the boy said harshly. "If Temari is out there, surrounded by gun toting maniacs and rogue soliders, then I am going to save her. With or without your permission," he finished sharply, as Shikamaru pondered on the sanity of the boy referring to Temari as 'irrational' when he himself had just attacked two people for no reason.

"No! I won't allow it!" came a strong, angry voice.

Shikamaru lifted his head and was surprised to see the pink haired girl glaring at Kankuro and standing in between him and Neji.

"Sakura..." Kankuro began, sounding as if he was going to attempt to reason with the girl.

"No!" she raged. "Do you remember what you were like when we found you?" she screeched, poking Kankuro belligerently in the chest. Shikamaru almost smirked to see that the boy looked quite intimidated. "Muscle mass completely gone. Dehydrated to the point of delusional and completely starving to death! Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get you back into a fit state? How many patients I neglected just so _you_ could live!?" she went on, getting louder and louder and still poking Kankuro in the chest. "And now- you want to run off and get yourself killed?! Well, I won't allow it," Sakura finished stubbornly. "You can try to leave the Centre but if you do I will pump you up so high on sedatives that you won't be able to walk for the next six months!"

Shikamaru looked to see that Kankuro was looking furiously alarmed whilst Tenten was looking at the girl with some form of admiration in her eyes.

"I have an idea," Shikamaru spoke up and jumped a little when all eyes in the room snapped towards him.

"I don't want to hear any ideas that you've got, rapist," Kankuro spat as Shikamaru almost choked.

He was about to attempt to stutter in his defence when Neji spoke up.

"My Lord, I highly doubt that Shikamaru Nara laid a hand on your sister," Neji said in a factual manner. "I assume that you can see that he is still in one piece," he finished, trying to hide his smirk rather unsuccessfully. Kankuro caught the soldiers eye and soon the two of them were attempting to keep in their laughter as Shikamaru looked on, slightly dazed and wondering why the two Sunan's were suddenly so joyful.

"Why are they laughing?" Choji whispered to him, looking slightly confused by the peculiar situation in front of him.

"We are laughing, Choji" Kankuro said with a hint of mirth in his voice, as Choji jumped not having expected the Prince to hear the question, "because the solider is right. I highly doubt that this _boy_," he said, looking at Shikamaru disparagingly, "would have his lower abdomen intact had he attempted to violate my sister," the boy said, smiling still and glancing over to see Shikamaru's slightly disgruntled expression. "Oh relax, Konohanian," Kankuro said patronizingly. "You're not her type."

Shikamaru began to wonder why he was going to the trouble of keeping this boy alive, when Choza reminded him of his earlier sentiments.

"Your plan, Shikamaru?" the aid worker questioned.

"Yes," he said, slightly unsure of how the group would react to it. "I think it would be a good idea for Neji, myself and Choji..." he began as Neji's eyes snapped to Kankuro who was suddenly eyeing him with an analytical look.

"So, you're a Hyuuga?" Kankuro said, sounding a little bored. "There's no need to look so alarmed, Hyuuga. I'm not my siblings. I couldn't give a fuck if you ran out on your own family, just so long as you're not running out on mine," he finished haughtily.

Not giving Neji a chance to correct the Prince, Shikamaru continued.

"Yes...well...as I was saying, Neji, Choji and me could continue on to Suna to find Temari," Shikamaru proceeded, ignoring the murderous look that Tenten was sending his way. "And, the Lieutenant could say here with Kankuro...to make sure that there are no attacks on the Aid Centre, which I would say-given the state of the Akatsuki's plan- is now highly likely," Shikamaru said, pausing a little to give the group time to consider. He noted that Neji was looking a little put out. "Then on the way back from Suna- with Temari- the three of us would stop here. That way, Kankuro gets to see his sister and to make sure she's safe and that he's happy with her condition before we proceed back to Konoha with the Princess," he finished a little nervously, waiting for someone's reaction to the plan.

"Good plan," came a voice, as Shikamaru was surprised to see that it was Tenten who was nodding approvingly at him.

"Tenten..." Neji said quietly, looking extremely unhappy.

"Captain, you cannot deny that it is a well-thought out plan," Tenten cut in loudly, surprising Neji. "All our objectives are met whilst we are able to pacify the Prince's need to see that his sister is of sound health. No doubt, the Princess also, will be less reluctant to return to Konoha, if she is aware of her brother's safety," the Lieutenant continued matter-of-factly, giving Neji a meaningful look.

Kankuro seemed to be appeased by the suggestion.

"Hyuuga," he said loudly, clapping his hand down on Neji's shoulder, "if I know my sister well enough...and I believe I do...she won't come quietly. You are going to need all the man power you have to get her over the border...no offense, babe," he said, nodding to Tenten with a little glint in his eyes.

Shikamaru didn't like to tell Kankuro that he was going about soothing Neji's worries the wrong way.

"None taken," Tenten replied disparagingly, but had the good sense to keep her opinions about Temari to herself.

"Very well," Neji said sighing, "It seems that Choji is accompanying us to Suna...if that is alright with you of course, Mr Akimichi," he stated gracefully, looking to the father and son.

"I'd be more than happy to help," Choji said, as Shikamaru was reminded of his friend's perpetual good nature. "Sakura has taught me some useful medical tricks so if anyone is injured, I should be more than able to help," he went on, as Shikamaru was also reminded of his friend's perpetual need to validate his usefulness.

"And you, sir?" Neji questioned the elder of the two.

"Shikamaru will take good care of my son," Choza said, clapping Shikamaru on the shoulder heartily and moving to pull him to his feet.

Dizzily, Shikamaru stood up and tried not to sway.

"How are you feeling, m'boy?" the jovial man asked him.

"Fine," Shikamaru replied in a lie, now more than ever wanting to go to bed.

"He needs to lie down," came Sakura's voice, and Shikamaru felt like hugging her.

"Yes, I think we all do," Choza said approvingly. "Well, kids, time for bed," he chuckled, shoving them all towards the door.

"So I get to meet your future wife then?" Choji chuckled to Shikamaru, as he resisted the urge to slap him.

The group stopped walking for a small minute, as Shikamaru realised that they had all banged into Kankuro's statuesque stationary figure.

The Prince didn't turn around but merely continued walking.

"That's a good one, Choji," he said, laughing dangerously, before moving off into another corridor away from the rest of them.

Choji gave Shikamaru an apologetic look.

"You're not going to ask about Gaara?" Sakura asked hurriedly, scurrying after Kankuro.

The boy snorted.

"Please, if they can kill Gaara, they deserve to rule Suna," he chortled sarcastically, before Shikamaru heard a door slam shut.

* * *

Shikamaru was jolted awake by the sounds of whispering voices. He had always been a heavy sleeper but over the past week or so he seemed to have developed a penchant for waking easily and unnecessarily.

The room which Choza had stationed them in was a large one, white- like the reception- but not as sore on the eyes. There were a large number of metal beds scattered around the room with coarse looking bedding covering them. There were a few people living in the aid centre- around ten or so Shikamaru would have guessed. He supposed that Kankuro got his own room due to the special nature of his stay.

"Promise me..." he heard a voice whisper urgently. Scanning his eyes over the room, he saw it was Neji speaking. Tenten was sitting on one of the beds whilst the Captain was kneeling in front of her, with his hands placed on her knees. "Promise me that if they attack, you'll get Kankuro and run," he went on in an almost pleading manner. "Don't try to fight them Tenten, not on your own....I don't want you getting hurt," Neji finished awkwardly, and Shikamaru could see that the soldier was blushing a little.

"I promise," Tenten whispered back, and Shikamaru didn't have to see her expression to know that she was smiling. It made Shikamaru smile.

Neji looked around furtively, as Shikamaru shut his eyes quickly. He creaked them open a minute later to see that Neji had crawled into the bed beside Tenten and was now pulling her close.

"Neji?" came Tenten's whispering voice a few moments later.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think Nara is planning to run away with the Princess?" she asked secretively.

"No," came Neji's quiet response. "And even if he was, she wouldn't do it. She has too many responsibilities. As hard as it may be for Shikamaru to accept, all three of those siblings only have one thing in their hearts. Suna."

His good mood now ruined, Shikamaru shifted over in his bed to go to sleep. It was a lot easier to slumber with the hard feeling of reality greasing over his thoughts.


	15. Chapter 15

Hello all!

Not much to say at the start of this chapter- other than please note the M rating.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! It really does help me to write- special props to Coelha-chan whos late review literally made me write!

Please take the time to review again this chapter- it would definitely mean a lot, as always.

Again, hope you enjoy!

SP7

* * *

Thinking back to his previous catastrophe involving Sunan Royalty- Shikamaru wondered as to how he had managed to place himself in the middle of another one less than twenty-four hours later.

Neji, Choji and himself had travelled to Suna quite briskly, leaving as soon as the sun had awoken. Their journey was....quiet. Shikamaru rationalised it by assuming that Neji's mind was on...other things, whilst Choji was unsure of how to act around the austere Captain. The reason for Shikamaru's prolonged silence was a result of his own need to mull over Kankuro's directions to them before they parted from the Aid Centre.

_If she is anywhere- she will be in the Palace. _

Really, there wasn't much to decipher from those words yet Shikamaru was bothered by them. If he had to have picked one place for Temari to be, he would have suggested the Desert Palace. A good guess if nothing else. However, if _he_ knew this. And Kankuro knew this. And judging by the look on his face- Neji knew this...wouldn't the Akatsuki?

Shikamaru had long since discovered that too often, people were quick to characterise those that were prone to violence as stupid. It, in itself, was an idiotic mistake. These men knew enough of the political atmosphere at the moment to understand the importance of the Sunan Royalty's position. Their predisposition to harming the heirs was merely a sign of their ruthless nature.

With these thoughts mulling inside his head, Shikamaru's pace quickened. He noticed before long that Neji was practically marching to keep up with him and Choji seemed to have given up the gauntlet altogether- lagging behind for at least a good few feet.

And so they arrived in Suna before long and Shikamaru found himself _here._

To be exact, _here_ was standing side by side Neji in the Desert Palace, pointing his revolver in the face of some blonde haired boy who coincidentally also happened to have a firearm directed at Shikamaru's own face. Neji was currently involved in his own standoff with a wild looking boy- their own weapons barely an inch from each other's faces.

There was no sign of Temari.

Shikamaru hoped fervently that the blonde boy couldn't see his arm shaking. He sincerely doubted that if it came down to it he could kill someone. He didn't think he had it in him. Yet, his own reasoning suggested that these boys's weren't involved with the paramilitaries. For one thing, Neji appeared to be acquainted with both of them and for another Shikamaru doubted they would still be alive if the Captain in any way doubted their political standpoint.

His own assurance that Neji knew the boys had been confirmed as soon as they had entered the building. The two had been sitting on the Entrance Hall's steps and upon seeing them Neji's face had presented a horribly snarl that Shikamaru had never seen before. The Captain reached straight for his rifle, marching towards the pair whilst Shikamaru was prompted into doing the same when he saw the Sunan's loading their own guns.

"Hyuuga," the brown haired boy spat with animosity, as Shikamaru noticed his fingers twitching on the trigger.

"Inuzuka," Neji replied, with equal loathing.

"What are you doing here, Neji?" the blonde asked, his eyes never wavering from Shikamaru's.

"Yeah, _Neji_, what are you doing here? I thought you were allergic to anything Sunan," the other said tauntingly.

Shikamaru noticed that Neji's own fingers were now starting to twitch on his rifle, and he prayed to whatever deity was currently overseeing this situation that Neji was keeping a handle on his self-control.

His prayers were quickly denied as he winced when he saw Neji locking the gun.

"Don't think I wouldn't...." the Captain hissed venomously, as the blonde quickly switched his aim from Shikamaru to Neji.

Shikamaru was worried that the three boys were about to explode into a barrage of gunfire when a small feminine voice made them all jump in unison.

"Neji?" came Hinata's tearful voice, as they all looked around to see the young girl standing on the marble steps and staring at them with wide and fearful eyes.

"Hinata, stay back," Kiba said harshly, never once lifting his eyes from the pair in front of him.

Shikamaru could see doubt gathering in Neji's eyes as he switched his gaze between his cousin and his attacker.

"You think you can just waltz in here, in your Konohanian army uniform, after _everything_ that has happened?!" Kiba said loudly, his eyes wide in incredulity and anger.

"I could ask you the same thing, Inuzuka," Neji responded coolly, although his grip on his rifle had lessened.

Looking back to the blonde boy, Shikamaru could see that he, too, was looking increasingly uncomfortable by the presence of Hinata. His eyes had softened considerably and his face was no longer tinted with boyish aggression but rather with child-like concern.

"I have a duty, to _my_ country," Kiba forced on, his voice growing louder. "I refuse to let trash like you wander in across the border and impose yourself upon _my Princess_."

"It is not only 'your' country and 'your' Princess, Kiba," Neji replied calmly. "She is my Princess, too, remember."

"I am not anyone's Princess!" came a loud, aggressive voice as Shikamaru nearly dropped his rifle.

She was there.

Standing on the steps beside Hinata; still the same proud gait, still the same beautiful face, still the same unharmed body.

"I am your ruler and you are my subjects," Temari said reasonably, looking over the situation before her with a mild expression of amusement.

Silence followed this, as Shikamaru took his eyes off of the Princess long enough to notice that a small smile was playing at Kiba's lips and Naruto looked to be torn between turning towards the royal to bow and keeping his aim on Shikamaru.

"I was sleeping," she went on regally, "and the yelling awoke me."

Again, no one responded.

"All of you- lower your guns. You will not be shooting anything today," Temari stated with great authority.

All four boys responded, although Kiba reluctantly so.

"You, Hyuuga," she said loudly, her probing gaze switching to Neji, who promptly looked back to her and gave a little nod. "What are you doing here?"

"We are here to bring you back to Konoha, milady," Neji replied politely, as Shikamaru resisted the urge to kick him.

"Kiba," Temari said brightly, "shoot him."

"With pleasure, Princess," Kiba said with a feral look on his face, lifting his gun and aiming.

"No!" Hinata shrieked, as she ran down the stairs quickly, momentarily distracting Kiba long enough to place herself in front of Neji.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked strangely, now looking at girl with wide eyes.

Neji's face remained emotionless; an indicator that Shikamaru had long ago flagged up as the clear sign that a storm was raging inside the solider.

"No!" she cried again, looking at Kiba with as much intensity as she could muster. "He may be one of them and he may be here to displace the Princess, but I will not let you kill him!" she finished passionately, as Shikamaru admired the girl's strength. She no longer appeared weak.

Kiba looked torn and turned to Temari questioningly.

Looking thoroughly displeased, Temari sighed loudly.

"Kiba, lower your gun," she said in a bored manner. "Hinata, stop acting like such a fool and come back over here," she ordered, as Hinata looked around hesitantly. "We are not going to kill him," Temari added impatiently.

Looking more satisfied, the girl scurried back over to the steps, now appearing apologetic.

"Neji," Temari said vibrantly, "I am not going back to Konoha. That is the end of the matter. I am tired, as are the rest of the group. You may stay the night but tomorrow morning you are leaving, _without me_," she added firmly, looking down on them all with oppressive eyes.

Neji nodded affirmatively, as Shikamaru recognised his typical army tactic.

Retreat and regroup.

"Goodnight," Temari said plainly, before nodding to them all and sashaying out of the hall as boldly as she had come.

_

* * *

He was here. _

_He was here to try and bring her back to Konoha. _

_She would refuse to go. _

_The kid may be persuasive, no doubt, but he would not sway her loyalty. _

_He looked so clueless- it was almost endearing. _

_Someone to talk to. _

_Someone to listen to. _

_Someone who genuinely cared about her. Not Suna. Not Konoha. _

_Her. _

_He was interesting. _

_Different. _

"_I think I've fallen in love with you."_

_...._

* * *

She was silhouetted against the window when Shikamaru found her, the moonlight dancing around her.

Sitting on the floor with her legs curled up against her and staring out the window, Shikamaru longed to see her eyes. He had gone far too long without witnessing her teal wonders glow alongside the stars.

She turned her head slightly over her shoulder, having obviously heard his footsteps. Shikamaru smiled to see her eyes glance over him in recognition before she returned her gaze to the window.

Not really sure how to act, he traipsed over to her figure, his feet scuffing against the already beaten carpet. Seating himself beside her, he felt his heart speed up as he wondered if she would allow it. To him, the memory of the time they spent together in Konoha was so fresh and so forever branded on his mind that it was hard for him not to act like nothing had changed.

Shikamaru didn't really see himself as naive. He knew that there was some element of survival instinct in Temari's actions towards him in Konoha, yet a small hopeful part of him thought that maybe she wasn't so indifferent to him. A bigger part of him remembered that it didn't really matter either way. Not in the larger scheme of things.

He coughed lightly, hoping to probe her into some form of conversation.

She remained silent.

He smiled wryly. She never liked to make things too easy for him.

Resolving himself not to looking at her anymore, as it was just distracting him, he turned his gaze upwards towards the window.

"How are you?" he asked dumbly, his voice coming out strangled.

Out of his side view vision he could see the corners of her lips turn up into a slight smile.

"Dirty," she replied, her cool voice tinged with irony. He chuckled as he glanced down at her body, now noticing the dusty sand that covered her full frame.

Silence settled in, as Shikamaru continued to berate himself for being unable to talk to her easily. He wished she would say something. He needed to talk to her without offending her. Neji would have his guts if he said something to dissuade her from coming back with them.

"Still in love with me?" came her taunting voice, as Shikamaru wondered why he had been so unhappy with the silence.

"Yup," he responded blandly, deciding that he wasn't going to give her any more ammunition by professing his love to her in any form of romantic soliloquy.

She shook her head, smiling slightly.

"I'm not an easy person to love," Temari said warningly, her smile fading.

"I've realised," Shikamaru said dryly thinking of his own conflicting thoughts, yet somehow hoping to make her smile again. He doubted she had done much of it since she had arrived in Suna. Instead, her eyes just moved to the moon again. Shikamaru was now staring at her unabashedly, not really caring if she noticed. Every time he was in her company, he felt as if his feeling for her were subject to some form of an expiration date. Feeling this emotion wash over him again, he was now determined to drink in as much of her as he possibly could whilst he was near her.

It was a troublesome task he had set himself, but the alternatives were hardly easier. Ignoring her was too much work and talking instead of listening to her would no doubt be something he would regret later- when she wasn't there anymore.

Feeling increasingly worried by the troubled expression gracing her face, Shikamaru decided for once in his life to be brave. Seeing her hand placed lightly on the floor, he covered it with his own, revelling in the warmth that her skin brought to his. Shikamaru saw her eyes flicker with an emotion that he couldn't place, but other than that she didn't move.

"I can't..." she stated cryptically after a moment, as Shikamaru noticed that she was deliberately not looking at him. "You know...that I can't, right?"

He nodded slightly and removed his hand.

"Yeah..."

She turned to him and gave him a slight smile.

"This isn't much of a window," Temari started oddly, now frowning up at the casement. Shikamaru didn't know what to say, so he just listened. "There used to be a mirror in front of it, and I hated it. I thought they were trying to block out the stars," she went on, her forehead crinkling as she stood up and lent on the window ledge, still peering out. "Now I can see it doesn't really matter anyways. You don't get much light from here, mirror or no mirror."

Assuming she had finished, Shikamaru waited on the ground for her to sit back down as well. He wasn't quite done extending his expiration date.

"Is this your room?" he asked interestedly, looking around the empty place. He didn't know why he asked it. There were no signs of furniture or fixtures that could have led him to that conclusion but he had found her here, so once again, as always with this troublesome woman- he was working on assumptions.

She nodded, turning her back to the ledge and peering around the room.

"You can tell?" she asked, looking at him with the moonlight silhouetting her again. She looked like some form of deity.

Shikamaru shrugged a little. "You just seem like....like you own it, I suppose," he reasoned, noting that she did command a certain presence over the place.

She laughed whole-heartedly, and Shikamaru grinned to hear the sound. It was a boisterous, loud and all-consuming noise that he doubted would be welcome at most society parties. But that was why he liked it. Too often, he had to listen to his mother titter in indignation at some snarky comment made by a neighbour, or to Ino, who laughed lightly when pretending to understand something that she didn't. Shikamaru was filled to the brim and sick of people who did nothing but hold back their thoughts. He supposed that was why he had told her how he felt. He was determined not to be one of those people anymore.

"Oh, Nara," she sighed, as Shikamaru almost jumped to hear the patronizing tones in her voice. "_I own the whole place_," she said, grinning down on him like a Cheshire cat, as he couldn't help but smile up at her.

He decided to take his chances, now frowning up at her.

"I thought one of your brothers was named heir," he stated innocently, adding a 'milady' at the end just to annoy her even more. He was now revelling in her narrowed eyes.

"Ha Ha," she said briefly, looking down on him sarcastically.

"I thought it was funny," he said in a low tone, as her eyes widened in indignation.

"Why you little...." she started, her hands now curling into fists. Shikamaru reasoned- he had went this far and he wasn't dead yet. Temari obviously wasn't used to people speaking to her like this.

"I'm not little actually," he said, cutting her off matter-of-factly. "I believe I'm taller than you, Princess," he went on, hauling his body up to stand beside her and thanking his good luck that he did succeed her height by at least five inches.

Nostrils flared, and with her hands still in fists, Temari glared at him, looking torn between the ideas of hitting him and laughing at him.

"Come on," she said after a few more moments contemplation, brushing her hand over his lightly before making her way out of the room.

Yawning lazily, Shikamaru followed her slowly. "Where are we going?"

"To find more light," she called back, as she led him up a darkened staircase which seemed to go on forever.

Shikamaru witnessed her pushing open a large door and saw that a large amount of light did indeed come from inside the door. Seeing her disappear through it, he jogged slightly to keep up with her.

Walking out onto the flat roof surface outside, he was surrounded by stars and a bright shining moon and couldn't help but wonder at the spectacle that was the desert sky. He had heard that Suna didn't have clouds...they made up for their loss.

"You are possibly the slowest walker I have ever encountered," Temari said, not turning to face him as she now resumed her position from inside by seating herself on the ground. Shikamaru did the same.

After a few moments silence she turned to look at him, obviously expecting an answer.

Shikamaru shrugged. She had probably just stated a fact. There wasn't much of an answer to give.

Noting his lack of response, Temari rolled her eyes exasperatedly, and turned to face the sky again. Unable to help himself, Shikamaru smirked a little at her reaction to him. Women were always so easy to wind up. With Ino, all it took was for him not to talk-which was Shikamaru's general code of practise when it came to his bride-to-be anyways but with Temari....it was fun to annoy her. Terrible as it was to say it, Shikamaru enjoyed the way her eyes lit up with a million different emotions when she was unsure of how to respond to him, before she finally settled on a response.

"Gaara wouldn't want this place anyway," Temari whispered, looking as though she was talking to herself. "He hates it almost as much as I do," she said, her voice rising in volume, as Shikamaru noted she was bringing him into the conversation.

Gaara.....?

Why did this keep happening to him? He knew that name. He was sure of it.

Shikamaru's brain lurched with realization.

Gaara was the boy she had met around the back of Ino's house.

Her....boyfriend.

"Isn't Gaara your....?" he trailed off, unsure of how to respond to her statement. He was confused as to how Gaara would come to have the place. Maybe she was betrothed.

"Brother, yes" she replied, after sighing loudly. "Sometimes, I think it would have been easier if my father had kept his trousers on," Temari said disparagingly.

Being both happy and embarrassed by his mistake, Shikamaru attempted to remember the boy who would have been Suna's King. The red-head. His memory swept over Gaara, and in his own head he decided that the boy would have made a good Monarch. Shikamaru was unsure as to why he arrived at this conclusion yet his memory was tainted with Gaara's stance and pride and determination. For some reason these recollections assured Shikamaru of the boy's ability to lead. To rule.

"He would have made a good King," Shikamaru responded, voicing his own thoughts.

Temari turned to face him sharply.

"He _will_ make a _great_ King," she spat unhappily, as Shikamaru realised Temari's own need for optimism. The alternative to Gaara not becoming King didn't bear thinking about for the Sunan Princess.

Instead of apologising he just nodded, unsure that an apology would erase the thoughts he had just unwittingly put in her head either way.

"Gaara was born to lead," she said determinedly, her tone now slightly less aggressive. "Literally...Father never really wanted Kankuro to be King; he thought him too boisterous," Temari went on, her lips curling in ridicule. "He kept him locked away in the basement, trying to make him different than Kankuro...better....Gaara never deserved that," she said quietly, now looking at her hands.

"My dad tells me that the people who often have the hardest life as children turn out to be the best adults," Shikamaru said matter-of-factly, remembering the times that as a young child he had questioned his father about how the children of war were supposed to ever recover. "They come through it stronger. Better for it in the end."

"Better?" Temari asked incredulously, her eyes widened in disbelief. "I saw my mother shot in front of me, my father foaming at the mouth from senility as he beat me to a pulp with his fists and I _still_ wouldn't swap my childhood for what Gaara went through," she finished, shaking her head in memory.

There was little Shikamaru could say to that. He realised that no matter how hard he tried, his experiences would never put him on a mental par with the Sunese Royal children. Their lives were just too distinct.

"But you are right," Temari stated, mildly alerting Shikamaru. "He is stronger for it. Gaara is the strongest out of all of us. He can actually face what has been done to us. To our country. Kankuro hides from it."

She paused, sighing for a moment and switching her gaze back to the stars, a look of mild happiness gracing her beautiful features.

"I almost thought I didn't care anymore," she began quietly. "It's nice to know you can feel something other than apathy," Temari finished, now smiling in her own small way, as Shikamaru realised that he was glad she was here in Suna. Neji was right- her heart did belong to her country. It made him happy to see her at ease in her own land.

"I know what you mean," Shikamaru replied, a light smile now making its way onto his own face. It was a shocking feeling to spend your whole life thinking of nothing other than how terrible and boring everything was and then to suddenly be thrown into some form of emotion.

He reasoned that they had both had similar reactions to that emotion. At first it had been a horrible feeling of falling and fear of what would come to be in the future.

And now?

Studying the small smile on her face, his opinion had changed. His feelings couldn't possibly be a bad thing- whether or not they were ever realised.

"You're not still on about that, are you?" she asked, the smile widening slightly for both of them as Shikamaru swore he saw a small blush making its way onto her cheeks. For someone so tan, the change was almost impossible to miss.

"Sorry," he said with mirth, not really sure as to why he was apologising. He had made no secret of his feelings for her. "Just can't seem to let it go," he went on, now looking at the stars, the wonder at their presence still not having dissipated for him, "troublesome as it is."

"My mother used to tell me that it doesn't ever go away...if it's real that is," Temari replied, as Shikamaru strained his self control in an attempt not to look at her. He was almost sure she was looking at him.

"Did she love your father?" he asked, for something else to say in distraction from the fact that he knew she was right. This wasn't ever going away

Temari nodded.

"I think so," she added, a fondness coming over her which startled Shikamaru. She sounded so pretty whenever she talked in memory. "She didn't want to though. She didn't like what he did to us. I think love was the only thing that kept her there."

"I met your brother," Shikamaru began, deciding that there was very little point in keeping this information to himself. If he was honest, he wanted to use it as a bargaining chip to get her back to Konoha- she seemed to be very attached to the notion of staying here.

"Kankuro?" came Temari's rapid reply as she swung her whole body around to face him- her eyes wide in expectation.

Shikamaru nodded and felt the ineffable urge to hug her when he witnessed relief flooding all over her features.

"Where is he?" Temari asked quickly, now sporting a large grin.

"An Aid Centre just outside of Suna- we think he's been there for a while," Shikamaru replied, smiling himself when he heard Temari's laughter again.

"That bastard!" she said loudly, the smile still all over her face, doctoring every inch of her features. "I'm stuck in Suna scraping around for food, and Gaara's being held as a slave in Konoha and that bastard is sitting pretty in a fucking aid centre?!" she said through her laughter. "God, nothing ever changes," she finished, still unable to hold her laughter in.

"He seemed pretty concerned for you," Shikamaru added, feeling he should perhaps mitigate on behalf of the eldest Sunan brother. For all his faults, Kankuro had been very eager to attempt to find Temari.

"Oh, I'm sure he was," Temari said, sarcasm tingeing her voice. "Just not enough to get off his ass and _look for me_!"

"He was actually pretty adamant about coming to look for you," he stated, now forced back to looking at the stars. If she kept laughing like that he was going to kiss her soon.

"Really?" she asked, the mirth now dying out and being replaced by a look of begrudging respect. "Well, that's new. Either way, I'm glad he's safe," she said oddly, biting at her lip, worry now creasing her forehead. "This aid centre...is it...who is..?"

"It's neutral," Shikamaru cut across her. "Run by Konohanians, but they're vehemently anti-war," he went on, thinking of Choza's probable reasons for leaving his country.

"Do they...?"

"Know who he is...yes."

"Alright," Temari said brightly, turning back to her stars. "Well, the whole clan's safe, I'm doing my job well so far, mother," she said to the sky, saluting up at it.

"You're not, Temari...safe, that is," Shikamaru said meaningfully, as she turned to look at him with an expression of indignation.

"Don't start," she said sharply, giving him a warning look.

"I can't not start, Temari," he said harshly, knowing that the only way he was going to get through to her was if he managed to make her see why he was right. "Think about it; if it was Gaara or Kankuro stuck out here, you'd be doing the exact same thing."

"Except its not them stuck out here- it's me. I'm not an idiot, Nara. I won't go and get myself killed, trust me. But I'm not about to let those three down there trudge along out here without so much as a person to guide them," Temari fought back, just as harshly. "I owe it to them, Shikamaru. I may not be the heir but that doesn't make me any less responsible for them."

"I understand that you feel an obligation to them, but..." Shikamaru started sensibly before he was cut off.

"No you don't," Temari intercepted, glaring at him. "I know you want to understand, but you can't. How could you, Shikamaru? You've lived your whole life for one person- yourself," she went on severely, her eyes now pouring into his with every fiery emotion that she possessed in her whole body. "You couldn't possibly know how it feels to be brought up for the purpose and good of other people and then to let them down. To have failed them. To know that they are starving and dying on the streets because of _your_ mistakes. _Your _ lack of action," Temari continued, as Shikamaru squinted to make sure that the tears that were building in her eyes weren't a figment of his imagination. "My mother died- and I did nothing. I stood there and I did nothing. And then for the next number of years I stood and watched my father descend into madness and _I still did nothing_. I refuse to do nothing this time, Shikamaru. I refuse to fail again," she finished, a hardened determination glinting amongst the tears which still refused to fall.

"I may not have lived through your life, Temari," Shikamaru began quietly, knowing that his words now could make or break any trust which she had ever placed in him, "but I am still human. I still know how it feels not to want to see someone you care about hurt," he continued, watching as a rogue tear slid down Temari's cheek and resisting the urge to brush it away. "I don't want you to fail, Temari. But I don't want to see you die, either."

She was silent, looking upwards still but obviously for the purposes of attempting to quell the tears in her eyes.

"It's selfish, I know," Shikamaru stated, mulling over his previous words. There had been a lot of 'I's' in there. "But you can't blame me for not wanting the only girl I've ever loved to die."

There was quiet for a moment.

"Here," Shikamaru said quietly, pulling the treasured item out of his pocket. "You left these behind," he added, handing Temari the pearls- unable to read her expression but not missing the wet drops hitting the ground. "I didn't want you to be without them," he finished oddly, not removing his hand from hers this time. It was too warm to leave.

And then she was kissing him.

And she was all tears and sand and dust and _heat._

As he felt her arms wrap around his neck and pull him into her body tightly, Shikamaru pushed his hands onto her waist, coiling his arms around her body, trying to get closer to her. The feeling of her pulling him in, being able to hold her tightly, kiss her, not having to let her go.....Shikamaru's back met the ground.

Temari fell with him, never letting up on her grasp of him. He could feel her cheeks burning with fire as he brought his hands up to her neck; his fingers began stroking her skin with a mind of their own- working on their own instinct. Their breathing had grown heavier and he could feel his heart thumping against his chest. As he felt her nip at her bottom lip, he took a chance and pulled her on top of him, their bodies clashing as Shikamaru resisted a groan. Yet, somehow, his lips never left hers.

* * *

Temari had never felt anything like this. These emotions were just so impulsive. So...not her.

And yet she wasn't stopping.

_She wasn't stopping._

One of his hands slipped behind her back, crushing their bodies even closer together, igniting something within her and dissipating all of her previous thoughts. As she felt his thumb trace the outline of her lips, she kissed the tip, bringing his head level with hers again. Their lips crashed together, as his hands went to her waist, pulling her up to his own hips; making her straddle him. She moaned breathlessly into his mouth as he ground her into his arousal.

Temari had never felt this hot. Not even in here, in Suna. Her whole body was shaking with anticipation. Shikamaru ran his hands back up to the front of her dress, still kissing her fervently. She noted that his hands were shaking as he attempted to unbutton her dress.

She should be telling him to stop. She......she should be pushing him off her but her body was betraying her. She pushed her hips down to meet his voluntarily, as she heard a groan escape his lips.

He moved his head down to her neck again, dragging his tongue from her ears to her collarbone, leaving trails of burning wetness.

"Goddamn.....buttons," she heard him choke out, as he ripped the front of her dress open.

Moving his hands down behind her back, he pulled her exposed body downwards to meet his awaiting lips. She whimpered uncharacteristically as he laved his tongue in between her breasts, his hands gripping the flesh at her back. Realising that she was almost completely exposed, save for her legs, she grabbed his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, revealing his upper body. Wrapping her hands around his torso, she pulled him closer, desperate for his skin on hers. He was burning. His whole body was aflame, wounding her with his heat.

She whimpered again as he licked his way down towards her stomach, groping her breasts as he moved. Temari arched her back, aching for his heat to be pressed against her again. She sat up, lifting her hips off the ground, aiding him to pull the dress fully off of her body.

Ignoring the fact that she felt more exposed and more vulnerable that she ever had in her life before this moment, Temari gently pressed her body against his bare chest, revelling in the way the contact made her want to kiss him senseless again. Letting her instincts take control, she kissed him fully, and was moved when she noticed him responding oddly.

He was slower. More tender than before and....his hands were still shaking she noticed as he ran them over her back lightly, kissing her neck warmly, his exposed chest still pressing up against her, moulding them together. Temari shivered again. She did not know it was possible to feel this hot and at the same time, this cold, all together at once.

Her hands wandered downwards as he kissed her still, finally coming to meet the buckle of his belt. She gingerly traced the edges of his trouser line; still not thinking, still not wanting to think.

Shikamaru had stopped kissing her; noticing where her hands were. He pulled his head back to meet her eyes with a gaze filled with love, lust and concern. She found it hard to meet his eyes fully, wondering if her eyes showed the same emotions.

"We don't have to..." he began, but she cut him off with a gentle "Shhh...." and began to kiss him again, her hands now undoing his belt. If he spoke, he might talk her out of the very thing he had unwittingly talked her into moments ago. Temari wasn't sure what she was feeling right now, but she knew one thing. She was done with talking.

Ignoring the fear building in her stomach, as she pushed his trousers away from them, Temari ran her hands along his young body, feeling every muscle and curvature and savouring it; doubting that she would ever feel it again.

They were still kissing tenderly as Temari removed her own undergarments. She smiled slightly as she saw Shikamaru's gaze travel downwards. When his eyes had finally came to meet hers again, apologetically, she simply pressed her lips to his once more, her smile growing widely when she felt his hands travel further downwards to explore. She didn't stop him. She had done the same, after all.

Temari threw her head back and arched her body when the pain finally came. It was fleeting and left her staring upwards at the stars. Through her teary eyes, she felt that she had never seen them so clearly up until now. Air was rattling through her body, making her breathing erratic as she slowly felt the oddness being replaced by another emotion.

Feeling the tears stream down her face, she noted that she didn't care anymore.

This was how it felt. Finally.

To be _complete._

For how many moments they were still, Temari did not know, still rejoicing at the feeling of connection. She felt Shikamaru rise slowly to press his chest against her; his arms wrapping around her body warmly and his fingers rubbing lightly at her back as he kissed the tears from her cheeks away.

Knowing from the sensation that was arising within her that she could not wait any longer, Temari kissed him passionately and then they were moving again.

He was everywhere. His hands on her back, his mouth on her neck, her ears, her lips, her shoulders.

She was utterly surrounded by him.

Her hips moved of their own accord; her whole body lusting to get closer to him as she could hear him whispering against her neck, but she was flying too highly to hear what he was saying.

Her moans grew louder and louder, as her hands grasped at his neck and she felt another sensation peaking in her body. She couldn't breathe; she couldn't talk or think or do anything other than to keep moving against him- her whole body trembling in a mixture of emotions.

Temari could feel him biting at her shoulder more and more harshly but found that she could hardly care. As she moved she found herself wishing that he would bite harder.

He pulled her head down furiously to meet his awaiting lips, which mashed together, not in a kiss, but in complete union. Temari cried out against his mouth, her body exploding into shakes and tears and pleasure. She attempted to throw her head back again, but found that she could not. Shikamaru was crushing every inch of her against him, biting at her lip fervently, drawing blood.

She did not care.

She couldn't care about anything else right now.

The feeling of him releasing into her as she came down from her own opianic high addled her mind, as she realised but one thing.

She had this boy now.

And she did not want to give him back.

* * *

**First A/N at the end of a chapter- woot! lol- just felt I needed to add this note at the of the chapter to clarify a few things. Firstly-I know probably none of you were expecting that to happen in this chapter- but I had actually intended Temari and Shikamaru to be together around about here. Notice though if you will- as much as it is a downer, lol- no declaration of love from Temari so I can safely assure you that they shan't be sailing off into the sunset and killing Ino together just yet ;). Much more to happen- thinking about it- I feel prematurely sorry for Shikamaru. **

**Also, I realise I cut quite oddly from the hall scene to Temari's room- that was intentional. I just wanted to write some pure pure romance without cluttering it up by what was happening in the Hall with Naruto, Neji and co. Do not fear- their interaction- or at least their passage of time- shall be dealt with next chapter.**

**The intimate scene between Temari and Shikamaru was written from Temari's perspective as I have only ever known intimacy from the point of view of a woman and I could not- no matter how hard I tried- write it from the perspective of a guy. I realise that there are far more talented writers out there- such as PSI who can write intimate scenes from the view of a guy but when I had finished it felt as though I was interposing a girls view of sex onto that of a guys. And I really didn't want to do that. However- I am again aware that Temari's emotions previous to her kissing Shikamaru are left out but again these will be adressed in the next chapter, so I won't go into mitigating her actions just yet, lol :P**

**Sorry for the odd note, but I just wanted to say those things because I didn't want to leave you stranded without any explanations or reassurances. **

**Thanks for reading! **

**Please review! :D**

**SP7**


	16. Chapter 16

Hello one and all!

Happy holidays to everyone and I hope all of your schoolwork and various jobs have finished so you are sitting around the house cosy and warm. Once again, i'm sure most of you know the reason for my incredibly long delay in updating but if you don't- coursework is the short explanation. I'm getting the results on thursday so if you don't here from me in a while it's because I've killed myself because I've failed- and by killed myself, I mean buried myself under a pile of ice cream in my bed.

Any who- I'm quite fond of this new update actually- something about it speaks to me. As always I would love to hear your views *cough- praise :p* so please, give me an xmas present in a review! lol.

The quote at the start is from Emily Bronte's The Messenger- a poem which I adore- I hope you all take the time to read it. It will be well worth your while

Other than all the usual stuff, I wish you all the best for the season, regardless of whether you subscribe to this particular religion or not. Everyone can appreciate Starbucks Gingerbread Latte's :D.

Enjoy and review please!

SP7

* * *

"_Oh! dreadful is the check - intense the agony - when the ear begins to hear, and the eye begins to see; When the pulse begins to throb, the brain to think again; The soul to feel the flesh, and the flesh to feel the chain."_

* * *

Connection in itself was not a concept that Temari had ever been familiar with. Connection with humans- even less so. When she thought about it, it had been so long since Temari had had a connection with another human. Now that she really thought about it, 'so long' wasn't really an apt description. She wondered if she had _ever_ connected this...closely...this intimately with another person.

Temari doubted it.

She had a connection of sorts with her brothers. One that was far from the idealistic version that most siblings achieved. Their 'connection' had been forged through the bonds of hardship. Dug from within each of them by the necessity of their own survival. The idea that it had been just 'there' since their birth was ludicrous. Temari's brash nature, combined with Kankuro's obtrusive one and quelled with Gaara's isolated own mind meant that any bond between the siblings would never come easily. And it didn't.

Temari supposed she should be grateful for the hardship. It had brought her two people that she had never expected to have.

Apart from her brothers, her mother had been a source of close comfort. A woman who had taught her all the things that she had ever needed to know.

_Except this._

Temari wondered if her mother had ever even considered broaching the subject with her. Had she thought about it and decided against it? Had the tutor been expected to do it? In the end Kankuro and Kiba had explained _it_ to her. It had been a humiliating experience- wasn't she the older sister? Wasn't she supposed to know before Kankuro?

At the time- it had meant _nothing_ to her. Temari could say that with all honestly.

_Nothing._

She had seen it as purely another way for a man to dominate over a woman. Well, considering the way Kankuro had described it that was hardly surprising...

"_See, what you do is you lie on your back and open your legs, see, 'cause that's what the woman does..."_

No one had ever explained to her about...about the connection. The connection that didn't come through blood or kinship or from hardship. The one that only came from the clash of one body against another. The indescribable feeling of being linked to another person; to know their skin like you knew your own. To know how your own body felt when handprint after handprint had been burnt into your skin- never to be removed. Never to be forgotten.

To feel that _alive_. To feel that if you never committed the act again you would die from the loss and yet, that if you died now, you would leave this world fulfilled...complete.

Temari looked to her left at the boy who was lying on his back, still shirtless, still breathing heavily and- she fought back a smile- trying his best not to look at her. She looked at the boy who she had now shared this eternal connection with- the boy who, because of her own impulsiveness, would now never leave her memory. He would never leave her consciousness. Temari knew this for certain.

It had been less than half an hour, and already she was having trouble neglecting the memory of his legs entwined with hers. His eyes locked upon hers as he whispered into her neck; as she cried out into the night from the pleasure that only he had ever brought her. Ever given to her.

How was she ever to forget that?

How was she ever to let that go?

...

To let him go?

It had been a foolish move- to kiss him. Because she had to let him go. She had to give him back. Back to his country. Back to his parents.

Back to his fiancé.

She shuddered when she felt tears prick her eyes again.

Jealous, already? What a stupid, pathetic emotion jealously was. It was stupid and pathetic because even before Temari had kissed him, she knew- _knew_ with ever particle of sense in her body- that he was going to leave again. That he would leave and that she would stay here, in Suna and the likelihood of her ever seeing him again was minimal at best.

But at the time, she hadn't cared. And if she was honest, it was because after even a night in Suna, Temari had felt like the human part of her was dying. The part that didn't belong to the people. The part that hadn't been born to lead. The part that had came along accidentally with all of that.

The part of her that he now inexplicably owned.

Before she had kissed him, that part had been starved of air. Starved of emotion by the fact that her royal blood was depriving it of every iota of consciousness. Of thought. She had spent one day attempting to plan out how she and her people, would survive the oncoming onslaught without Gaara, and these thoughts alone had left her feeling numb.

Numb, along with the memory of a spark. A spark- that although wrong- had been ignited in Konoha. Ignited through his conversation. Through his attention. Through his nervousness.

She hadn't felt it at the time; she had been too busy worrying about how she was going to survive his mother- but it was there all the same. The feelings that had kept her going through the nights of lying in his house, wondering where Gaara was and wondering if Kankuro was alive- wondering if she would stay alive.

And leaving it- leaving him had let the spark die out. It had proved to herself the one thing that she already knew. That her body was a vessel for politics. For war and for greed and for money. And nothing that she could ever do would ever remove that label.

So finally, earlier this night, Temari had admitted it to herself. Admitted that she was desperate. Desperate to find some form of emotion that connected her to her human self. Her non-political self. Her own alive being.

And she had found it in him. But along with so much more than she ever expected.

Had she used him? Used him as an object to prove to herself that she was more than just a machine?

Right now, Temari thought no. She looked at the boy next to her and felt every emotion that she had been looking for. Jealously. Possessiveness. Lust.

But most of all, Temari felt alive. And that was something that Kankuro had left out of his explanation.

The fact that when she connected to this boy- skin to skin, mouth to mouth, passionate searching hands to aching, burning flesh- that she would feel more alive now than at any time in her life before this.

And so yes, she regretted it. Despised it, in fact. Because it was a life ascertaining force that she would never feel again. Not with him anyways. And if Temari couldn't have him- well then she didn't want anyone.

"What's wrong?" came his voice drifting into her emotion filled thoughts. His hand placed itself on top of hers and she resisted the urge to jerk it away.

Really she should. She should break his heart. Because then he would never come back. And she wouldn't act so stupidly ever again.

"What?" she replied, finally turning to look into his hazel eyes. They were dark with concern, yet filled with love. For the second time that night she wondered if her own eyes reflected the same emotion.

She wondered if her own heart reflected the same emotion.

"You're crying," he said simply, and Temari did jerk now, to place her hand against her face and feel the wetness coating her face.

If this was what emotions were- tears and jealously and doubt- Temari wondered if she really wanted them at all.

"Are you alright?" Shikamaru probed, clearly wanting to forge ahead with the topic. She had to remind herself not to tell him that it was none of his business. Because really it was. She had just given him her body, and for some reason she felt that that qualified him to know everything about her- and vice versa.

She sniffed for a few moments and wiped away the excess water- determined to let that be the last time she cried in his presence. Looking to him again, she ignored the clench in her stomach, when she noticed that he was picking up his shirt and trying to put it around her shoulders.

"Don't" she snapped harshly- despite the fact that she was shivering and he had obviously noticed. She would kill for his hands on her skin again. He had been so _warm._

He looked at her apologetically and set the shirt down gingerly, sighing heavily before finally putting his head in his hands.

_I told you it was stupid to fall in love with me._

"Why didn't you stop me?" she questioned, fully aware of the despicable tones gracing her voice. This was how he would forever remember their connection. Her harsh voice, and her ungracious movements and her rejection of him. The thought almost made her kiss him again.

She knew more than anything that it was probably his first time too. And she had stolen it. Stolen it from him. Stolen it from his future wife.

He was looking at her now; his eyes filled with a mixture of anger and disappointment in her.

"Because I didn't want you to stop," he replied ruthlessly, his eyes boring into hers imploring her to be honest. Searching for the honesty within her. One that she was desperate for him not to find.

Temari didn't want to say anything to him now. She felt so horribly vulnerable and exposed in front of him that she knew herself to be incapable of lying to him. It was better if she just said nothing.

"Don't do this," he said, this time softly, his hand pulling at her arm. "Don't try and push me away," he continued as he successfully managed to get her into his embrace. Temari couldn't remember why she wasn't resisting anymore. "I've already told you I'm not going anywhere," he whispered into her hair.

And this time _he_ kissed her. And she didn't do anything to stop him. Because his lips were so soft. And his touch was so warm. And his hands were too insistent.

And when he left, as he inevitably would, Temari wanted him to remember the night as she would.

Eternal and perfect and beautiful.

And something, that when she had finally stopped what _they_ were plotting- the plot that would separate him from her- she could look back on and think of with a smile. With a fond remembrance for the touch of a person who had never wanted anything from her but her own embrace.

But Temari couldn't think about that anymore. Because they were banging downstairs. And they were about to sacrifice her. And Temari couldn't let them do that.

So she pulled away.

So she ran.

* * *

Ever since he could remember, Choji had never been that quick on the uptake. It wasn't a skill of his. At least, not a skill that he possessed in any great quantities. He was known for his slowness. For the slowness of his thought, to be exact. Choji thought about things for a great deal of time. And when he finally reached a conclusion, it was one that stuck. He was very different to Shikamaru and Ino in that respect. Shikamaru thought quickly and brutally, with a speed that made Choji dizzy just to acknowledge it. Ino also thought quickly, though not with any great deal of intelligence. When Ino came to a conclusion- it usually changed within the next five minutes.

Therefore, when he thought about it- and Choji had been thinking about it ever since the walk from the Aid Centre to the Sunese Palace- he just couldn't understand how Ino and Shikamaru were consenting to marry one another. In the first place, there were a number of previous incidents which led Choji to believe that the two of them would, at some point, refuse to go through with the whole thing.

Choji remembered vividly and in great detail, Ino's eighth birthday party. A ghastly all-pink affair that had been in the planning stages since May- five months previous to Ino's actual birthday. It had been in August that the whole thing had fallen apart. There was supposed to be a giant pink butterfly-shaped piñata arriving from outside of Konoha- a piece of architecture that Ino's dad had had specially commissioned. Yet, in August word came that the piñata wouldn't be coming to the party after all. It didn't pass the Konohanian customs regulations and consequently the government wouldn't allow it anywhere into the city. Shikaku and Inoichi did everything possible to rescue the project, including offering the government large sums of money- but they wouldn't budge. And thus, word reached Ino's ears that the piñata would not be attending.

The hissy fit was epic.

That was the only word which Choji could think of to describe it really. He could remember the crying and the stomping and the screaming. He could remember the sleepless nights when Ino had declared that her parents didn't actually love her and came stumbling round to his house to stay. His mother had, of course, welcomed her with open arms and the next day had went trotting round to Inoichi's house to see what the problem actually was, and if she could help any.

The combined result of all this was that Ino declared that if she could not have the piñata, then she did not want the party at all. There was much persuading and convincing done, but in the end Ino would not be swayed. And so the party was called off. And Ino spent her eighth birthday round at his house, where his mother made them dinner and Shikamaru fell asleep before seven o'clock. Hardly the gargantuan party that Ino had been hoping for yet according to her, it was better to have a small sit down dinner, than a huge party sans piñata.

The piece of information that Choji had taken away from all of this was that unless Ino could have the 'whole' thing, then she didn't want any of it at all. So it puzzled Choji as to why she was marrying Shikamaru.

Shikamaru didn't love Ino. Surely she could see that. And, in Choji's view, love was undoubtedly one of the big things that marriage included. Of course, Ino wanted the dress, and the party and the cake and the tea-set, but she must want the love as well. There was no way that she could just ignore that part of it and let the wedding go on- any more than she could just ignore the absence of the piñata and let the party go on.

Choji had considered the possibility that Ino had deluded herself into believing that Shikamaru loved her. But that was not an option. Ino was no idiot. She had, as a child, read many fairytale books and knew, more than anything what 'love' was. Maybe it wasn't as sickly sweet as it appeared in her childhood novels, but it was more than what Shikamaru gave to her. Which could only be described as nothing other than indifference. There was no way that Ino could be mistaking indifference for love. It was just too far of a leap in Choji's mind.

And then there was Shikamaru. The 'intelligent' one of the three of them. Or so Choji had thought.

Yes, Shikamaru was lazy. And yes, he was slow in movement. And yes, if the notion took him he would probably fall asleep rather than engage in any form of exercise. But this was the Shikamaru who was apathetic. The Shikamaru who didn't care. The one who appeared most often on a day to day basis.

Yet, this was not the real Shikamaru.

The real Shikamaru, when hassled- when really put out, when completely and utterly at odds with every situation in his life- would not do nothing. He would not fall asleep. He would not lie back and let life take him where it would.

A prime example of this was when the army had been planning a drafting scheme for five to ten year olds in order to 'indoctrinate' them with the army's own ideals. To teach them the ropes early on, so to speak. Being the son of a General, it was only expected that Shikamaru would attend the scheme.

But he didn't. He refused. He drove his mother to tears and his father to solitude and yet Shikamaru didn't care. When Choji met with him within the few days that the affair had taken place- his friend was completely unchanged. Completely at ease. He had said no, and that was the end of it. His parents had tried to bribe him, force him- going as far as to actually drop him off outside the army camp- but Shikamaru would not be moved.

Yet he was being moved now. He was being forced into marrying a girl that he didn't love. Maybe marrying Ino wasn't such a stretch of the imagination. Many a man would marry someone purely for the sake of getting it out of the way. Especially if the girl was pretty and not too bad to be around. Maybe if Shikamaru had been completely indifferent to the idea of love, then him marrying Ino would have more of an acceptable notion.

But Shikamaru wasn't indifferent to love. He had all but admitted to Choji that he was in love. With this Princess. Why- having just met her twenty minutes previously, Choji could not understand. She seemed to be a brash, haughty sort. The type that Choji would have always expected Shikamaru to despise even more than Ino- but there it was. His friend was in love. Why else would he be trekking cross-country to save her? Certainly not on his father's orders.

No- Shikamaru was acting on love- Choji was sure of it.

So why then was he still consenting to this marriage?

Where was the fight? The refusal? The stubbornness of the ten year-old Shikamaru.

Choji was not sure where these characteristics had gone but he could only hope that Shikamaru regained them soon. Because if he didn't, he was going to end up stuck in a marriage that would be impossible to get out of.

'Not being in-love' didn't count as grounds for divorce in the Konohanian law courts.

Choji jumped.

He had let his mind wander again. Unfortunately, it was the only distraction he had.

When Neji and Shikamaru had given one another an odd cryptic nod shortly after the Princess had departed their company, and Shikamaru had made to go after her- Choji had attempted to follow. Yet he had been stopped by the officer, for some reason unbeknownst to Choji. And really- he would much rather follow his childhood friend around a beaten-down Palace than stay in the sweltering heat with two gun wielding maniacs and a crying girl.

But what choice did Choji have?

And so they had all been sitting here. Himself, Neji, the gun wielding maniacs and the distressed girl. Nothing much to say to one another, really. It had all been said upon entrance.

The maniacs wanted Neji dead. Neji wanted himself alive. Clearly they were at odds with one another.

.....

Wherever he was, Shikamaru was taking a long time.

His father had often taught Choji not to judge. That was what had started the war, in his opinion. According to his dad, they should all accept each other and let one another live in peace.

Choji thought this was a good plan. But it still didn't change his mind about the fact that the brown-haired boy with the crazy eyes and the large piece of weaponry was obviously a maniac. He had been glaring at them solidly since he and Neji had taken a seat on the floor. Neji- clearly seeing the boy's eye line- had taken to cleaning his gun quite thoroughly.

The blonde boy had taken quite some time comforting the crying girl, his arm around her shoulder in a protective manner. Maybe he had feared their intentions. Choji's dad had talked of what happened to the Sunese girls when arrested by Konohanian soldiers. Maybe the blonde haired boy had thought that to be their intention.

"You'll never get her to come back," Kiba said sneeringly, his voice breaking through the silence with his eyes still fixated on Neji and his gun. "She's realised how much she is needed here. She won't leave us, you'll see, army boy. You're trip has been for nothing," he finished, laughing derisively at them through the fiery smoke of the metal bin.

Neji hadn't even lifted his head.

"You think the Princess is needed here, yet you fail to understand that if she stays here, she _will_ die," he murmured softly in response, his hands moving swiftly over his gun. "Surely you see that Inuzuka."

Kiba remained stationary yet Choji could see that he was fighting the urge to move. The girl's sniffles were obviously affecting the boy and stilling his movements, as he kept glancing over to her.

"I see nothing of that, Hyuuga," he spat viciously. "You actually think we would let her die?" he went on, incredulity tainting his voice at every turn where the anger did not. The boy's fists were clenched and Choji wondered if they would have a fight on their hands.

If they did, Neji was screwed. Choji knew nothing about fighting, and was besides that, by principle, a devoted pacifist.

"I fail to see how you would manage to defend yourselves against a terrorist organisation, Kiba," Neji replied patiently, finally setting down his gun and regarding the boy for the first time. "You have two weapons, neither of which are particularly well equipped from what I can see, and furthermore neither of you have any training. The Princess would be captured within six seconds of them invading the Palace, and all hell would break loose," he went on, almost as if talking to a five year old. Choji did not think it wise to patronize the boys, despite how ill-equipped Neji may have thought them to be. "For her own safety, she _must_ return to Konoha."

"And what about what she wants?" came a timid voice, as it took Choji a few moments to realise that the crying girl had spoken up. She was still shaking, and clinging to the blonde boy for dear life, but there was a determination in her eyes that made Choji think her to be the scariest of all of Sunan's, including the maniacs. This girl wasn't going to give up. Choji could see it in her eyes- she was a fighter.

"Hinata..." Neji began, already sounding exasperated- an emotion which, although Choji had only known him for a number of hours- still sounded foreign coming out of the soldier's mouth.

"Princess Temari spends so much time living for others," Hinata continued, cutting Neji off softly. "Her whole life has been lived for the good of other people. What about her feelings?" she went on, hiccupping slightly with tears now pouring down her face. "Why doesn't she ever get to do what she wants?"

Neji was silent. Choji understood why as in that situation there was little to reply to Hinata's remarks.

Empathy was not something that any soldier ever had a great deal of experience with. Choji knew this from his father's comments about Inoichi or Shikaku. It was ingrained within them to be passive and unemotional.

Neji was clearly struggling to combat the emotionality of Hinata's words. He had no idea how to fight them, having been told to ignore them altogether.

Choji continued to watch Neji as he heard the blonde boy begin to whisper words of comfort to the girl.

And then he heard a bang.

And then he heard Hinata scream.

* * *

Shikamaru was running. For what purpose he had no idea.

Temari had acted exactly the way he knew she would. She tried to pull away from him. To pretend that her kissing him had meant nothing...and if there was one thing that Shikamaru knew, besides that she was coming back to Konoha with him- he knew that he would refuse to let her pretend.

The whole time his Princess had been present in Konoha, she had performed an eye-opening exposition on his young mind, forcing him to see the way the Konohanian government really was. The way the army really was. The way this mother and father really were.

It had been an excruciating experience for his brain- the culture shock had been unbelievable. One that he was unlikely to forget anytime soon. Yet, it had pulled him harshly and viciously from his apathy towards the political situation. It had dispelled his disillusions about the way that Konoha was acting and _made him open his eyes._

Her kissing him had been the final nail in his cocoon of a coffin. If he wasn't devoted to her before now- if he had in anyway convinced himself that the reason he was running after her was to save Suna and Konoha- then now he knew differently.

Now he knew that each and every little thing that he would do from here on with his life would all be for her.

And Shikamaru refused to let her forget that. He refused to let her shove him away as though kissing him had meant nothing to her. Because it did. Because the look in her eyes as he had made love to her told him everything that he needed to know.

But the fact that she was now bolting in the opposite direction from him did little to dispel his worry that making her open her eyes would be a difficult task.

He had thought that the fact that she had been willing to kiss him, despite her obvious confusion- had been a step in the right direction. Yet, there had been a noise. Of what calibre, Shikamaru couldn't recall. But whatever it had been had sent her bolting down from the roof and towards the bottom levels of the Palace.

As he ran, Shikamaru was disregarding the stripped walls and crumbled carpets because he was so busy trying to keep up with Temari. He had long ago lost his way from where he had first encountered her and the bland walls and nondescript patterns on the floors were providing little to no help. All he could see was a blonde stream of hair glinting in the near distance, followed by the long blue ribbon of her waist band flowing out behind her as she ran. And he kept his eyes on that.

Until now. Where there was no more ribbon and her hair had lost its light. He let out a long flow of breath, recalling in his mind the night he had followed her to Ino's house. She had always been a fast runner and he had never been able to quite keep up with her. It seemed that this was what he was now destined to spend his life doing- attempting to keep up with his Princess.

She was peering around a corner, her hands pressed so harshly to the walls that he could see the whiteness of her knuckle bones through the thin skin on her fingers. He could hear that she was breathing harshly but it steadied as she heard him draw closer. He jumped as he felt her warm hand clasp around his wrist, pulling him up straight behind her without so much as a word.

But she didn't need to say anything.

Because somebody else was already talking.

* * *

If Choji had been scared before of Sunan maniacs- it was nothing to what he feeling now. His heart was beating so rapidly against his chest that he was sure it would break its way out. His palms were sweaty and he wondered if he hadn't been forced to breathe by his body, if he would keep it up at all.

They had come in roaring vociferously, clanging their weapons and kicking the debris in their wake. The sun had streamed so brightly behind them that Choji could not make out their faces at first, only their bodies- and their tribal colours.

Red and Black.

Akatsuki.

Their faces, once shown, had made no attempt to conceal their evil intent. Sickening grins were plastered to each of the three faces, all of which made Choji sick to look upon.

Neji, Kiba and Naruto had been quick- but not quick enough. The three had shot the weapons from their hands with a precision that equalled none that Choji had seen before.

And then they had stood there- watching them in their glorified victory, which had yet to be completed.

And all that Choji could pray was that Shikamaru would keep Temari on the roof and not let her come down. Because if she did, then they had all died for nothing.

And then one had spoken. His voice so devoid of emotion that it sent shivers down Choji's spine. His eyes were so dark and filled with malice that the glint of his voice had barely registered in them. They seemed to be endless pits of darkness- ones that wouldn't let their prey go, once he was caught within them.

"You know why we are here..." he had hissed. "Hand her over."

* * *

Shikamaru stood and watched in horror as he saw the three paramilitaries disarm Neji and the two boys.

But before he could be frozen in shock, his instinct kicked in. Taking advantage of Temari's grip on his hand, he pulled strongly on her- hoping to get her up onto the roof before the men began to search the castle. They could climb down from there and run back to Konoha.

Shikamaru knew what his orders were and he was determined to follow them through.

Yet, she refused to budge.

Temari stood stock still, one hand still gripping the wall tightly.

"Temari!" he hissed urgently, "come on! We have to get out of here," he continued, pulling at her with all of his might.

But her feet were glued to the floor.

"What are you..." he began, but was cut off as she turned and slammed him into wall.

There were tears brimming in her eyes and he could tell she was shaking as she pressed her hands to his chest.

"You remember what I said before..." she said finally, the emotion lilting her voice, her watery eyes boring into his with every piece of ocean blue that he loved about them.

_I refuse to do nothing this time, Shikamaru. I refuse to fail again_

He looked at her, and he could feel the confusion tainting his own features.

"You must see what they are planning to do," Temari said meaningfully, her hands grasping at his back, as she pushed him to the edge of the wall.

And then her voice in his ear again...

"I cannot let them do that..."

* * *

Choji felt tears prick his own eyes, and beside him he felt Neji stiffen.

He could tell that the soldier was doing everything in his power to stop himself from crying out.

"Hand over the Princess..." the man hissed again, his hands visibly tightening on his gun.

And in three eye-opening seconds, Choji knew the Sunan's plan. He knew that Neji knew it. And he knew above all, that they intended to follow through with it.

The shaking girl stepped forward.

"I am her," she said, her voice timid and fearful. "I am Princess Temari."

* * *

Shikamaru turned back to Temari, his own eyes wide with the realisation of what Kiba and Naruto were doing. And what Temari refused to let them do.

She had him back against the wall again, her hands grasping pleadingly at his chest, and he felt her desperation. Her strength coming through in every palm she laid upon his body.

"Let them take her," Shikamaru pleaded, his own hands coming up to grasp the Princess's wrists. "You are more..."

But she cut him off with a kiss. One that was so heady and passionate that he could barely breathe. She had cut off every electrical current to his brain with her lips and he couldn't focus but for the feeling of her flesh on his and the memory of but an hour ago.

"_I refuse to fail again_..." she whispered against his lips.

And then she bolted once more.

And Shikamaru couldn't keep up with her.

* * *

"I am the one you are looking for," came Temari's booming voice from the steps of the hall as Kiba fell to his knees and Hinata began to weep.

All three heads snapped from the face of the weeping girl, to the glowing aura of the woman standing proudly in front of the assassins. And Choji knew they were done for. There was no mistake as to who the Princess was.

Temari's blue blood was pouring out from every inch of her skin. The lack of fear, the lack of tears, the utter strength of the Princess leaving little doubt as to who was telling the truth.

She swayed down the steps with grace and poise, her eyes never leaving that of her capturers.

They were all powerless to say anything. Choji could see Neji shaking out of the periphery of his vision; he saw Shikamaru standing dumbstruck at the top of the steps and only sensed his own instability as she passed him, sucking all of the energy from him until she had finally come to stand face to face with the darkest of the three.

"You will come quietly?" the one to the right sneered, his silver slicked hair letting the sun beat off of it in an unbearable fashion.

Temari did not grace him with her eyes, but merely raised her head higher.

"I came into this world better than you," she said softly, yet with a might that Choji could only dream of. "And I shall leave it better than you, too," the Princess finished, side stepping the middle man and continuing gracefully towards the door and out into the sun.

And when she had left, Choji heard Shikamaru scream.

* * *

Ignoring her lovers cry, Temari regarded the man standing immediately to her right as she exited the hall. A man she had not seen since her early teens.

"You knew I would have killed her if they had sent her out instead of you, Temari," Itachi Uchiha said coldly, his white hand grasping her shoulder firmly.

Temari nodded.

For the man had once been the closest thing that she had ever had to a suitor. To try and foil him by sending out a decoy would have only meant death for Temari's young friend. And being the only one of the Akatsuki who knew what she looked like, Temari was sure that they would have sent him.

"We won't kill you straight away," his voice said, echoing through the memories of her childhood and into her mind.

"You will never kill me Itachi," she replied evenly, her face turning to match his red eyes; eyes which had once confused her so. "We both know you won't," she finished, before turning to walk towards the Sunan mountains, quite sure that the group would come looking for her.

Quite sure that Gaara was already on his way.


End file.
